When we last left our Bavarian heroes, they were stomping all over FC Heidenheim in the last match prior to the Winterpause. That was December 21, a 4-0 result that leaves Bayern Munich eight points atop
the Bundesliga and with a match in hand heading into Sunday’s restart, a home contest against VfL Wolfsburg.
It has been as good a start to a season as Bayern has seen in recent years. No early DFB-Pokal exit. No Champions League setbacks. And nothing close to resembling a Bundesliga title race. Yes, Vincent Kompany’s squad can legitimately be viewed as the one of the best in Europe — and they might just be getting started.
So, what has Bayern gotten up to in the winter break? Let’s review. But first, if you missed it, you can check out our BFW Roundtable: Midseason Awards & Second Half Predictions as well as our grading of each position group: attack, midfield, and defense.
Big names returning
The major storyline heading into 2026 has been the return of two of Bayern’s biggest stars, Alphonso Davies and Jamal Musiala, as well as rotational defender Hiroki Itō. Bayern just about got by with a rotating cast at left- and right-back in the first half, while Lennart Karl’s emergence and Serge Gnabry’s resurgence more than held down the fort in attack.
Itō is unheralded by comparison, in part because the Japanese international scarcely had time to establish himself in his first season at Bayern last year before getting injured. But the left-back/center-back flashed serious talent in addition to his versatility, particularly on the ball and in his involvements in attack. We saw those same qualities again in Bayern’s lone friendly tune-up match before the restart, a 5-0 smashing of RB Salzburg in which Itō supplied the first goal — a sensational volley from outside the edge of the box, at that.
Itō should give Kompany and Bayern a wealth of options and security in defense and more than capably spell Alphonso Davies when the Canadian star, coming off an ACL injury, needs a breather.
And Davies, for his part, looks good as new. He made his first forays back as a substitute late in the Hinrunde and is as electric as he has ever been. Bayern has clearly missed someone with his ability to cover the left flank in defense while still getting into advanced positions. He’s a weapon and a completely new dimension to what Bayern has shown so far this year in running roughshod all over the German top flight.
It’s not all rosy, though. Bayern operated like a finely-tuned machine, and now the gears are being switched out. Yes, better gears are coming in — but will the whole assembly still run as cohesively, still outshine the sum of its parts? How quickly can Jamal Musiala, facing the pressure of returning fully fit in time for Germany at the World Cup next summer, get back in and what does this free-flowing attack look like with a very different style of left-back and No. 10? These will be burning questions for Bayern to answer, and perhaps it is just as well. No matter how good a team looks for half a season, the same tactics can get stale and form can vanish into thin air. Just ask 2022.
Contract progress
Last Spring, Bayern took care of internal affairs, securing key players like Joshua Kimmich to contract extensions before their deals expired. This year, Bayern has another crop of free-agents-to-be, and the big three find themselves in contrasting situations:
- Dayot Upamecano, the big one. Bayern’s top center-back is key to Kompany’s suffocating style of play and he gives the Bavarians stability and cover that no one else can. The French national team star delivers a mean long pass, too. All of this has seemed to translate into significant leverage for Upamecano, who has extracted what seems like concessions from the club on every front: a €20M signing bonus, a €65M release clause to be activated just one summer from next, and annual compensation that could reach €20M. All of that, especially the release clause, has Bayern fans just a little nervous. At the same time, his would have been a devastating departure.
- Serge Gnabry has — improbably by viewers of his last two campaigns — played himself into a new deal, which is reportedly close to being finalized. It should come with a pay cut, as Gnabry was a top earner on his last contract but is now a part-time starter for the foreseeable future and past the age of 30. He’s outlasted Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sané at Bayern but if his playing time drops, it is not unlikely even a reduced wage will be viewed with skepticism.
- Leon Goretzka, however, looks to be firmly on his way out. Last year’s comeback kid, Goretzka looks firmly second choice in the current Bayern midfield, despite starting the season in the place of injured Aleksandar Pavlović. When both players are healthy, the younger player is preferred and looks far more composed and comfortable in his role. And so does the even younger new addition, Tom Bischof. Goretzka is a throwback, a box-to-box warrior who will motor upfield, carrying the ball if he has to, and impose himself in the box. That just isn’t what Bayern is asking of its pivot players these days, at least not as a primary job, and Goretzka has looked like a fish out of water as the season has gone on. He’s gone as far as — reportedly — reaching out to his former coach, Hansi Flick, to see if there’s a spot for him at Barça. That, too, looks unlikely.
Transfer exits
You may have avoided hearing Bayern executives talk about how this is the winter of “internal transfers” — that is, if you’ve been living under a rock for several months. Expect a quiet January window, with the possible exception of an outgoing player, the identity of whom is hardly being kept secret.
That player is right-back Sacha Boey, a €30M January buy from a few seasons ago that like so many Bayern right-back acquisitions of late has not been able to stick. Boey had a brief run of games in the Hinrunde while Bayern dealt with backline injuries, and Kompany has spoken of wanting to retain Bayern’s squad numbers for the Champions League run if he can, but rumors have circulated that Kompany has taken exception to Boey’s conduct as the season has gone on. It now looks like Bayern will take the chance to sell now if able.
Champions League dreams
This figures to be a low-drama Bundesliga finish. It’s the Champions League where Bayern will have to make good, though. The Bavarians have tasted the semifinals as recently as 2024, under Thomas Tuchel, before losing out to eventual winners Real Madrid. Last season they went out in the quarters to Inter Milan.
Standards are always high and as good as the league season has been, another early UCL exit will be met with displeasure. If anything, the good performances this season and the return of top players puts more pressure on Kompany to return Bayern to its first Final since 2020.
Bayern’s league phase position is good, for now: second place behind Arsenal, which has a perfect 6-0-0 record. Bayern has just the one loss, to the Gunners, and play their final two league phase matches on January 21st and 28th against Union Saint-Gilloise and at PSV, respectively.
There’s just the little matter of a ban of the Bayern ultras after an intentional and repeat flouting of rules against pyrotechnics in the last match against Sporting CP.
The Bundesliga Restart
Well, there is still the league to return to first of all. While severe weather has seen other league matches called off this weekend, Bayern’s home match on Sunday against VfL Wolfsburg is still set to go ahead. We’ll see you right here at Bavarian Football Works for the 11:30 AM EST kickoff. Please join in on the game thread — and as always:
Mia san Mia!
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…
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