Christoph Freund expecting gradual January return for Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala

SB Nation

While it’s one of the more cliche expressions in football, Bayern Munich getting Jamal Musiala back from a long-term injury layover for the second half of the season will be like having a new signing for the remainder

of the season for the reigning Bundesliga champions. There’s added weight to the phrase for Vincent Kompany’s side, as the club’s front office has already stated not to expect too busy of a winter transfer window.

There’s no evidence to suggest there’s anything wrong with the current Bayern squad that’s getting set to welcome Musiala back with the nine-point lead they have over Borussia Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga table and having already secured advancement to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Additionally, they have a DFB-Pokal quarterfinals clash against RB Leipzig coming up next month. While Harry Kane, Michael Olise, and Luis Diaz have been firing on all cylinders in Bayern’s attack, there’s been a handful of unsung heroes in the form of Lennart Karl and Serge Gnabry’s attacking returns as well as the versatility of players like Tom Bischof and Konrad Laimer in both defense and midfield.

Speaking on Musiala, sporting director Christoph Freund recently said that the plan is to gradually give Musiala minutes as the second half of the season progresses since he has already resumed training with the rest of the squad. “Jamal is training with the team again and will gradually get playing time. A return in January is more than realistic. It’s great that he was so eager and would have preferred to play in December, and now we’re happy he’s back. He just needs to get back to match fitness. You can see how much he’s giving to get back on the pitch. He’s really excited about football, about the daily routine with the team, about being in the dressing room. He seems very positive; it’s simply a joy to see,” Freund explained via Tz’s Manuel Bonke (transcribed by @iMiaSanMia).

As we found out earlier today, Musiala is out for the next two games, but could be targeting Saturday January 17th vs. RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga or Wednesday January 21st vs. Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League for a return.

Kompany will have the luxury of opportunities to give Musiala lower risk minutes given Bayern’s cushion at the top of the Bundesliga table and the fact that they’re already through to the next round of the Champions League. That’s not to say that Kompany will in any way not try to get maximum points from all of Bayern’s upcoming matches, but he’ll have to be careful and measured with how he re-integrates Musiala back to full match fitness.

If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…