FC Bayern has rejected the re-signing of its former player Jérôme Boateng. Boateng, who played for Munich between 2011 and 2021, most recently trained with Munich as an unaffiliated player.
FC Bayern Munich will not sign Jérôme Boateng after all. “Jérôme Boateng will not return to the FC Bayern Munich squad. FC Bayern Munich decided this this Friday and informed the long-time Bayern professional,” the club said.
The 35-year-old had been training with the team since Sunday but has not received a contract offer. Boateng left the Bavarian capital in 2021 after ten years in the service of the record champions and returned to Munich. But there is no commitment now.
“Looking at all aspects, FC Bayern has now decided not to sign Jérôme Boateng. At the same time, as a deserving player of the club, he was offered the opportunity to continue to stay fit at FC Bayern. Jérôme Boateng was in good physical shape .”
“Personnel situation in the Interior defense relaxed”
Several central defenders were recently injured at FC Bayern, so Boateng was considered a real option. “Dayot Upamecano and Min-jae Kim can now play without pain again, and Matthijs de Ligt is also on the mend, so the personnel situation in central defense has eased,” the club now writes.
Jérôme Boateng, the 2014 world champion, will not receive a contract with Bayern, but the personnel concerns in defense remain because Munich’s defense is weak and shaky.
FC Bayern hasn’t kept a consistent clean sheet for weeks and the club is desperately looking for a central defender with stature. The Boateng issue is now off the table, but the worries and needs in defense remain. The squad, which has too few alternatives in defense for coach Thomas Tuchel, is also weakened by injuries. If Munich wants to keep a clean sheet more often, the situation will have to change soon.
Staffing levels remain thin
Boateng, who as the former defense chief won the treble with Munich in 2013 and 2020, should have been the short-term solution to the thin defensive staffing, according to the original plan of those responsible.
“It’s the case that we had three central defenders injured just a week ago. That makes you think about: What can happen in the next few weeks, what can happen until winter. We’ve dealt with that,” said sports director Christoph Freund in front of the champions -League game of Munich at FC Copenhagen said.
In the cup game against Münster, coach Thomas Tuchel had to make do without a central defender. Boateng could have helped out in exactly such emergencies, but he won’t. With only three experienced central defenders in the squad, coach Thomas Tuchel could face such shortages again. Especially since the Korean newcomer Min-jae Kim will most likely be at the Asian Cup at the start of the second half of the season and will not be available to FCB.
Would Boateng have been the solution?
The class that Boateng once brought to the pitch would no longer have been expected. It is not for nothing that his contract with Olympique Lyon, which he signed after leaving Munich, was not renewed after two seasons. In the last season he only made a meager eight appearances – he only played the full distance once. The central defender is unlikely to have much match practice.
His former assistant coach Hermann Gerland was nevertheless convinced of Boateng’s personnel. “He was a first-class player and played sensationally. If he’s at the level I know him to be, he can help Bayern Munich,” said the long-time FC Bayern assistant coach on Sunday in Blickpunkt Sport.
Judgment because of Mayhem because of procedural errors lifted
But it wasn’t just sporting aspects that loomed over Boateng’s commitment. The defensive specialist has recently caused negative headlines off the pitch. Boateng was found guilty of two counts of assault. In the most recent proceedings, the Munich regional court was “completely convinced” that Boateng boxed, hit, spat on and insulted Sherin S., the mother of his two children, during a vacation in 2018, as the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” writes. The verdict was overturned in September – due to procedural errors. The case will be retried soon.
