For Jerome Boateng, a comeback in the jersey of FC Bayern seemed to be on the horizon. But now the club-less central defender apparently does not receive a contract.
The FC Bayern officials had already talked about the role Jerome Boateng could play in coach Thomas Tuchel’s squad. But now the 35-year-old centre-back will apparently not be signed at all. The newspaper “Bild” reported on Friday that Boateng would not receive a contract with the German record champion.
According to the report, the decision was made because of the new trial against Boateng, even though sports director Christoph Freund had declared that the “private story” was “not a big issue for us”. Due to blatant legal errors, the Bavarian Supreme Court had overturned the conviction of the 2014 world champion for assault and insult. Boateng had been fined a total of 1.2 million euros in November last year for assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
Boateng had left FC Bayern in 2021, but had subsequently not found happiness at Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyon, instead increasingly relegated to a reserve role. He had been without a club since 1 July and can therefore be signed at any time before the winter transfer window in January.
Will de Ligt be out for longer?
In Matthijs de Ligt, Dayot Upamecano and new signing Min-Jae Kim, FC Bayern only has three experienced centre-backs and experienced a lack of width in this area in the DFB Cup opener in Münster (4-0), when Leon Goretzka had to help out in the centre of defence. Especially as one duo is causing concern: In the case of de Ligt (blow to the knee), there was official talk of “a few days”, but in the meantime there is internal talk of four weeks’ absence. And with Upamecano, who has recently been struggling with pubic bone problems, caution is called for.
For Boateng, who has been allowed to present himself in training at Säbener Straße since Sunday, “a role as backup” (Freund) was therefore envisaged. But this will apparently not be filled for the time being.
