Now that Lennart Karl has officially turned 18, he is on a professional contract at Bayern Munich, which now extends his stay at the club through 2029 based on a clause in his last contract. Per information from Bild (via @iMiaSanMia), there are already talks underway at the club about extending Karl’s contract through June of 2031, which would also include a salary adjustment. Additionally, it is currently understood that there would be no release clause in his proposed contract extension through 2031.
Now that Karl is on a professional contract at the club, his salary has bumped up to roughly €2m per year, which is not a hefty wage compared to a lot of his teammates, but his camp could easily ask for a considerable bump when the time comes to sit at the proverbial negotiating table for the extension to 2031. His merit based off of his performances so far this season, and the unexpected nature of how they came about certainly warrants conversations about pay raises within reason.
So far this season, the now-18-year-old has tallied seven goals and four assists from a total of thirty-one appearances across all competitions, the most recent contribution having come in the form of an assist in the 3-0 win at Werder Bremen on Bundesliga match day twenty-two. With the absence of Jamal Musiala for most of the beginning of the season due to a long injury layover, Karl was given his chance to shine and took that chance exceptionally well, having really made his presence felt in the Champions League, scoring against Club Brugge, Arsenal, and Sporting Lisbon, while also providing a key assist in the win over PSV Eindhoven on the final matchday of the group phase.
The fact that he was recently described to have been going through a bit of a dip in form for not having a goal contribution for a run of four Bundesliga matches pretty much sums up the expectation that he’s already created for himself based off of his performances earlier in the season. Of course, with Musiala now back in the squad an all of Harry Kane, Michael Olise, Luis Díaz and Serge Gnabry all in solid form, it’s a bit more difficult for Karl to be starting almost every match, but his ceiling for potential is still incredibly high based on the evidence on display from large portions of this season thus far.
