Jan-Christian Dreesen was asked about Goretzka’s potential future at Bayern and deferred to the sporting bosses: Max Eberl and Christoph Freund
Partially due to the timing of injuries to both Aleksandar Pavlović and João Palhinha at Bayern Munich, Leon Goretzka has had a decent run in Vincent Kompany’s starting lineups, and that carried over to the German national team for the pair of UEFA Nations League matches against Italy in March. Goretzka started alongside Pascal Groß and then Angelo Stiller in Julian Nagelsmann’s midfield selections in those two games.
Goretzka has enjoyed a run of consistent starts for Bayern ever since the middle of February, right around the time when Pavlović was struggling with an illness and Palhinha was out injured. Out of necessity, Kompany was often starting Goretzka alongside Joshua Kimmich for the Bundesliga and Champions League matches from that time onward up until the international break.
For Goretzka, his brief resurgence of not only minutes, but form as well has come at an interesting time, considering he was a player up for debate to be sold this summer. His current contract with Bayern runs through June 2026, so this coming summer would realistically be the last window for the club to sell him for a decent transfer fee.
When club CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen was recently asked about Goretzka’s future at Bayern, he deferred a response to sporting director Christoph Freund and board member for sport Max Eberl.
“This is first of all the responsibility of Max Eberl and Christoph Freund who are leading the discussions. Leon’s contract runs until 2026,” Dreesen explained, as per t-online’s Julian Buhl (transcribed via @iMiaSanMia). “In the past few weeks and months, other contracts have had to be resolved first. Christoph and Max have done an excellent job of that. He [Goretzka] is playing almost every game for us. Vincent is using him, and he’s doing a great job. Everything else remains to be seen.”
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For Eberl, Freund, and Bayern, there are a lot of moving parts with the Goretzka contract situation. The club has already tied down the three key contracts of Kimmich, Jamal Musiala and Alphonso Davies, but the midfield is a bit trickier of an area of the pitch.
Palhinha has had a difficult first season with the club after his move from Fulham, but he seems to be committed to staying and fighting for his place in the team. Pavlović has been unlucky with injuries and an illness this season, but has usually been a start under Kompany as well as under Thomas Tuchel last season. Both Konrad Laimer and Raphaël Guerreiro are auxiliary midfielders and defenders, but both would be far more likely candidates to leave this summer as opposed to Goretzka.
A lot can happen between now and the end of the season, but the club will really have to assess whether or not it is worth it to extend Goretzka. This would certainly not be the first time he has experienced a bit of a resurgence after an otherwise relatively underwhelming season, so the club will have to address that in their critical assessments of the player and his track record.
