Looking back, it’s easy to say that Bayern Munich’s decision to loan out Josip Stanišić was a mistake. The Croatian has played 30 matches for Leverkusen, scoring two crucial goals — including one against Bayern — and assisting four more. He’s been a solid defensive presence and has filled in for many different positions, strengthening Leverkusen’s depth and being a crucial option for Xabi Alonso’s side, who wrapped up an easy title win last weekend. Still, was it really that bad?
After loaning Stanišić out, Bayern and Thomas Tuchel had two center-backs in mind: either Chelsea’s Trevor Chalobah or Armel Bella-Kotchap. The club also reportedly was interested in João Cancelo, a Portuguese right-back — another position that Stanišić plays. Remarkably, all of those deals fell through on deadline day: Cancelo headed to Barcelona, Bella-Kotchap joined PSV Eindhoven, Chalobah stayed at Chelsea. As an added bonus, Bayern targeted defensive midfielder Palhinha and failed to sign him, too.
The embarassing deadline day left Bayern with essentially no defensive depth, especially in Stanišić’s two positions, right-back and center-back. At center-back, the Bavarians had Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs de Ligt, and Kim Min-Jae. On the right, they had Bouna Sarr and Noussair Mazraoui. At least two of these players — Min-Jae and Mazraoui — were expected to be absent in January due to the Asian Cup and AFCON, respectively. Bouna Sarr had a chance to be called up for AFCON, as well.
Now without Stanišić, Bayern had to hope they could reach January without any major injuries. By the end of September, this had already fallen apart, as seen in Bayern’s DFB Pokal victory over Preussen Münster, where Thomas Tuchel started a center-back pair of Leon Goretzka and Noussair Mazraoui, with all three center-backs missing due to injuries. Had Stanišić been around, Tuchel could have rotated his center-backs more and avoided injuries.
In early October, Matthijs de Ligt picked up an injury, sidelining him for three matches. Next, Upamecano injured his hamstring, which meant he would miss several weeks. Again, no Stanišić available to step in, so Bayern turned to a familiar face: Jerome Boateng.
Boateng, once one of the best defenders in the world, was something of a Bayern legend. He had played for the Bavarian giants for a decade, winning two trebles and the World Cup with the German national team. Bayern’s bosses were convinced that he was the ideal replacement for their injured center-back duo. What they didn’t expect was the backlash that followed.
The problem is that while Boateng was a great player, he wasn’t a great guy. Just the opposite, in fact. He was found guilty of assaulting his ex-girlfriend in 2021, and it is widely assumed that his behaviour led another one of his ex-girlfriends, Kasia Lenhardt, to commit suicide. Even his mother believed so, as was later revealed, while his brother, former AC Milan star Kevin-Prince Boateng, had already made it clear on many occasions that he wanted nothing to do with Jerome. His time in Lyon also raised questions about his character and leadership on the field.
What was intended to be a short-term fix became a long-running saga, and, in the end, the protests from the fans were enough to convince Bayern’s bosses to back out of the deal. Other names were floated as possible signings — mainly former Dortmund defender Sokratis — but in the end the club decided to sign no one. This increased tensions between the fans, the board, and Tuchel, at a crucial time in the season.
In November, Bayern played FC Saarbrücken in the DFB Pokal. With a thin squad in general, the starting eleven was largely composed of starters, including Matthijs de Ligt, who would be making his fourth start in ten days after missing the previous three matches altogether. After just 18 minutes, the Dutchman went down clutching his knee, and, with no options on the bench, Joshua Kimmich had to move to center-back.
Had Stanišić been at the club, he could have started that match, giving de Ligt more recovery time, or he could have simply been subbed on once de Ligt was injured. However, Bayern didn’t have him, or anyone capable of playing center-back — even a Bayern II player would have sufficed — and Kimmich put in a poor performance out of position as Bayern went down 2-1 in a shock loss.
Over the next few matches, Thomas Tuchel was forced to play some interesting defensive combinations. Leon Goretzka made a few appearances at center-back, Konrad Laimer appeared at right-back, and Bouna Sarr was called upon once. Dayot Upamecano returned from injury to make things easier, but it was clear that the defense wasn’t back to 100% — clearly visible in a 5-1 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Bouna Sarr’s season was over by December, which was more of a nuisance than an actual problem, given that he had only played five games. Fortunately, once January began, Bayern was able to make its defensive signing, bringing in Tottenham defender Eric Dier in what has been a surprisingly good signing. Right-back Sacha Boey also joined from Galatasaray for €30 million to help replace Mazraoui, who was away at AFCON. Kim Min-Jae was at the Asian Cup, as well, but Upamecano and de Ligt were healthy again.
The Boey signing was completely avoidable. Stanišić regularly plays right-back, so he could have moved from center-back to the right once Dier was signed, leaving the club with Kimmich and Laimer as right-back depth until Mazraoui returned. Instead, they paid a premium price for a player they didn’t desperately need — Mazraoui was already back by the time Boey was signed — and, on top of that, Boey picked up a hamstring injury after just two matches and has since not played again, although he did end up playing against Stanišić and Leverkusen. More on that later.
At the same time, Stanišić was showing his value for Leverkusen. With defenders Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou at AFCON — Kossounou wouldn’t be back until February, as Ivory Coast reached the final and won — Leverkusen was spared Bayern’s headache of last-minute shopping. Leverkusen had a very quiet winter transfer window and kept winning in January, picking up valuable points in the Bundesliga title race.
Just two points separated Bayern and Leverkusen when the two played in February, and it was Stanišić who had the last laugh. Bayern’s big-money right-back Sacha Boey, playing on the left, was guilty of watching the ball as Stanišić was left alone at the back post, scoring an easy goal — his first in a Leverkusen jersey. He didn’t celebrate, but there was a slight smile on the Croatian’s face. The second goal came down Bayern’s right-flank (where Stanišić would have been playing), and Leverkusen confirmed a dominant win as Frimpong scored on an empty net in the 95th minute. Tuchel wasn’t happy.
🔴 Tuchel on Stanišić scoring against Bayern while he’s on loan to Leverkusen.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 10, 2024
“In England there's a nice rule where when you loan a player out, they can't play against you. For me that makes more sense”.
“The rule unfortunately doesn't exist in Germany”. pic.twitter.com/mbceygpDzV
While Tuchel bemoaned Stanišić’s performance against Bayern, the fact is that his loan had already derailed their season. Had Bayern not loaned out the Croatian, there’s a very good chance that they would still be fighting for at least one of the DFB Pokal or Bundesliga — maybe both.
Since the 3-0 loss to Leverkusen, the Bundesliga title has grown further and further away from the Bavarians. Last week, Leverkusen clinched their first-ever Bundesliga title with five games to spare and a 16-point lead. Leverkusen’s only goals for the rest of the season are to win the DFB Pokal (they are heavy favorites over FC Kaiserslautern), the Europa League (they are into the semi-finals), and remain undefeated. Stanišić is doing his part in the last one, helping Leverkusen grab dramatic late goals in back-to-back draws against West Ham and Dortmund.
The question is: what now? Thomas Tuchel, the man behind the decision to loan him out, will leave in the summer. The next manager has not yet been confirmed, but it definitely won’t be Xabi Alonso, who is staying in Leverkusen, so it’s unclear whether or not Stanišić will be a part of the club’s plans next season. That is, if he wants to be — reports from transfer expert Florian Plettenberg suggest Leverkusen wants to make the move permanent.
It may be hard to convince him to stay in Munich long-term, especially with increased competition at right-back. Sacha Boey will eventually recover from his consecutive hamstring injuries, while Noussair Mazraoui has been in good form recently. Additionally, Joshua Kimmich has successfully filled in at right-back, partially because of the emergence of academy product Aleksandar Pavlović in midfield. If Upamecano leaves, he may get decent minutes at center-back, but he could get more elsewhere, including in Leverkusen.
In the end, it’s wrong to say this season has been a failure for Bayern Munich. They still have a chance to win the Champions League after a hard-fought victory over Arsenal, advancing to the semi-finals, where they will play Real Madrid. The Bundesliga season hasn’t been great, but Stanišić is far from the only reason Leverkusen has been unstoppable. Still, you can’t help but wonder how different this season would be if Bayern had kept Stanišić.
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Image via fcbayern.com.
