Goretzka grabs chance to remind Bayern what he – and they – used to be | Andy Brassell
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Midfielder starred for leaders but his future lies away from club that plays in different style to when he was in his pomp. There were times in the past when it seemed like he would do this forever; there were other times when it felt like he would never do it again. Leon Goretzka breaking a game open for Bayern Munich in his own special way doesn’t feel like it should be headline news but it is, and it was a timely intervention for the Bundesliga leaders on a rare quiet day for Harry Kane.
![[It was a rare quiet day for Harry Kane, who failed to score for Bayern.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6e4087409758d7e69447d87b1d81066aa0496842/0_0_3529_2352/master/3529.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
On a day when Wolfsburg were what they rarely are on visits to the Allianz Arena – a genuine irritant – and when Kane wasn’t able to bail Bayern out, they needed some practical rigour to see them over the line, and Goretzka provided it. Not predictably so, however. Having once been one of the avowed cornerstones of present and future Bayern, Goretzka is in the unusual position of having to prove himself all over again, though not necessarily to his current employers.
![[Emre Can berates his Dortmund teammates after their defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/788375ee1f9906f5d9f534bc9ad833b0aa2bf7c0/0_0_7791_4385/master/7791.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
His two goals were exactly what we expected from the prime version of this deluxe midfielder, whose contribution underlined his current status of “not wanted, but needed” by his club, as the headline in Monday’s edition of Kicker put it. Stymied by injuries and having failed to become the mainstay all assumed that he would become, the 29-year-old Goretzka still has plenty of supporters around him in the dressing room, most notably Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich.
Yet this felt more like a right here right now curio rather than a pointer to the future. Goretzka has been informally up for sale for a while, with his recent injury history and his €20m annual pay packet a sharp brake on any meaningful progress. Bayern are more at peace than most clubs with one of the harsh realities of sport; not everyone can get paid. Plainly, Goretzka is not one of the hierarchy’s priorities at present, and perhaps he never will be again. Christoph Freund and Max Eberl are juggling more contractual balls than is entirely optimal at present. Jamal Musiala is the big one but Bayern are also aiming to extend Leroy Sané’s deal and are working on the futures of Kimmich, Alphonso Davies and Thomas Müller, the trio whose deals all expire this summer.
