As Goretzka’s successor
Matthäus brings up the Bundesliga star at Bayern
02/27/2026 – 7:18 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
FC Bayern and Leon Goretzka are going their separate ways in the summer. Lothar Matthäus therefore recommends that the Munich team sign a Bundesliga professional.
Lothar Matthäus recommends FC Bayern to sign Xaver Schlager from RB Leipzig as Leon Goretzka’s successor. “I’ve lost Goretzka, so I have to get another one,” the Sky expert told t-online at a press conference in Munich on Friday. “It is known that Xaver Schlager will leave Leipzig. He would not cost a transfer fee, the Bundesliga knows. For example, he would be a player where I would say he would fit.”
Schlager is “not a player who will probably make Bayern two classes better,” continued Matthäus. “But you can definitely rely on him, similar to Konrad Laimer.” Both play for the Austrian national team. Schlager is someone “who will probably give everything and push the squad.”
Schlager is a player who would be similar to Goretzka in his style, the record national player continued. He is “more the one who toils, works for the team and not the fine player like Joshua Kimmich or Aleksandar Pavlović.” That’s why Matthäus could “imagine that Xaver Schlager would, in his own way, be a candidate to succeed Goretzka. That should actually be him because we know him and he plays here on our doorstep.”
Schlager moved from VfL Wolfsburg to Saxony in 2022 and has already decided not to extend his contract, which expires in the summer. Matthäus emphasized that FC Bayern already has a great talent for the central midfield in Tom Bischof in its ranks. “That’s actually his position and not on the left or right back, where he sometimes helped out,” said Matthäus. “He’s more of a double six, where he also played excellently in Hoffenheim, where he also plays excellently in the U21.” In addition, FC Bayern should try to bring back Noël Aséko, who is currently on loan to second division team Hannover 96.
Laimer, who he already mentioned, could also play in central midfield. Laimer is a trained midfielder, but has now been converted into a right-back. “If I were in charge at Bayern Munich, my thought process would be: Do I expect Konrad Laimer at the back right?” said Matthäus. “But then I need someone in midfield again.” Matthäus has already decided who that could be with Schlager.
