Josip Stanišić is about to make his comeback to FC Bayern after a long injury break. He could now become a key player there.
Max Eberl had actually ruled out new signings for FC Bayern during the winter break immediately before Christmas. “The priority is on internal transfers, i.e. contract extensions,” said the sports director when asked by t-online before the Leipzig game. “When everyone is fit again, we will have even more choice. We are extremely happy with the squad.”
There is still no sign of completion of the contract extensions mentioned by Eberl, which are still being negotiated with Jamal Musiala, Joshua Kimmich, Alphonso Davies, Leroy Sané, Thomas Müller and captain Manuel Neuer, among others. With another internal transfer, however, it does.
With Josip Stanišić, head coach Vincent Kompany will soon have a player at his disposal that he has hardly been able to rely on so far this season.
Strictly speaking, only once: in the very first competitive game and the 4-0 win in the first round of the DFB Cup at SSV Ulm. Stanišić was on the field as a right-back for the entire 90 minutes. He then suffered a torn lateral ligament in his right knee and missed the entire first half of the season.
A bitter setback for Stanišić, who returned to Munich from his one-year loan to Bayer Leverkusen in the summer as champions and cup winners and with great ambitions. With the two titles, he’s the only one who currently has what everyone absolutely wants from the dethroned record champion again. (You can read more about this here: Stanišić is Bavaria’s master spy)
Instead of being able to prove himself in his hometown with the record champions, where he was trained and has been playing since the U17s, the German-Croatian first had an operation, rehab and advanced training.
At the start of the year, the 24-year-old took the next step towards a comeback and returned to team training. His first appearance will probably come too early on Saturday when Bayern restarts in Gladbach (6.30 p.m.). Because of slight thigh problems, which Bild reported, he ended up missing the dress rehearsal on Monday in Salzburg (6-0). Nevertheless, his comeback is now only a matter of time. It could happen as early as Wednesday in the home game against Hoffenheim. This makes Stanišić a secret new signing for Bayern for the second half of the season.
Due to his versatility, the defender, who can play both as a right-back and in central defense, has a good chance of playing time at Kompany. He could therefore even become an X-factor and a key player for the Bayern coach in the coming months.
In any case, the expectations of Stanišić are high. “He has established himself at the highest level in Leverkusen and with the Croatian national team – we are looking forward to the coming years with him,” said Eberl about him in the summer. And explicitly named him, along with Musiala, Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlović, who was also born and raised in Munich, as players who should “together become the face of Bayern Munich” in the future.
The fact that Stanišić was loaned out to Leverkusen last season is now viewed within the club as the biggest mistake in personnel planning (you can read more about this here). In the end, Bayern paid dearly for this misjudgment of not relying on the abilities of the very flexible Stanišić.
Due to major injury problems in Stanišić’s positions, the Munich team had to bring in Sacha Boey as a replacement during the winter break a year ago. Bayern paid 30 million euros to Galatasaray Istanbul for the Frenchman.
But Boey never really arrived in Munich; also because he was repeatedly set back by serious injuries.