Kingsley Coman is now said to want to leave FC Bayern after all – but what will FC Bayern do?
Soccer coaches and players have learned never to commit to anything in professional soccer. If a coach, let’s say Niko Kovac, is linked with another club, he prefers not to say no right away, but rather “no, as things stand at the moment.”
And when Kingsley Coman declared his commitment to FC Bayern in Miami a few weeks ago, he didn’t say that he would definitely stay at FC Bayern. Instead, he said that he would “like to stay at FC Bayern.” “I have a two-year contract, it’s simple. A lot can happen in soccer, you never know. But I have a contract and I feel comfortable here.”
That was at the end of June, during the Club World Cup. In mid-August, around a week before the start of the Super Cup, there was suddenly a lot of movement again in a transfer that was no longer considered possible. Coman is said to have agreed terms with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, with a net annual salary of €25 million on the table.
At FC Bayern, the top stars now receive sums that are sometimes absurd, but the record champions cannot and will not keep up with such salaries. After all, they had long been prepared to let Coman go if a suitable offer came along. That was already the case in the summer of 2024, when sporting director Max Eberl held talks in Saudi Arabia, but Coman ultimately turned down the offer.
Two years before the end of his contract, the injury-prone winger and Bayern Munich now seem to be parting ways. A transfer fee of around 30 million euros is being discussed, but no agreement has yet been reached.
What is clear is that the German record champions will have to take action themselves. Although Serge Gnabry, who has been struggling recently, is expected to be back in action against Stuttgart, the squad is still looking increasingly thin. Without Coman, coach Vincent Kompany would currently only have Harry Kane, Luis Diaz, Michael Olise, and Gnabry available for the offense.
Paul Wanner (ligament injury in his left ankle, around two weeks) and Jamal Musiala (fractured fibula, not back until the end of the year) are out, while Lennart Karl still needs time, even though the 17-year-old youngster has made a good impression in pre-season.
“In general, I can say that we are very happy with our squad,” emphasized President Herbert Hainer on Sunday during the anniversary march to Tegernsee (a reenactment of the legendary promotion march of 1965). “Now we have the luxury of seeing what happens on the market over the next three weeks. If a player wants to leave, we will of course sit down with him and talk – and then react accordingly.”
For Coman, it would be a farewell after ten years in Munich. The 29-year-old, who was initially on loan from Juventus and later signed permanently, made a total of 339 appearances and scored 72 goals for FCB. He scored what could be his last goal on Thursday evening with a fine curling shot in the 4-0 win against Tottenham.
It is questionable whether Coman will feature in Tuesday evening’s friendly against Grasshopper Club Zurich.
