Serge Gnabry’s Resurgence at Bayern Munich
Serge Gnabry’s Bayern summer felt like a rebirth. He turned 30 on 14 July, walked back into Säbener Straße, and discovered that, almost by default, he was suddenly a starter again. A year earlier, he had looked more like a saleable asset than a cornerstone. Now he was back in the team’s spine.
It wasn’t just his strong pre-season. It was the vacuum around him.
In Vincent Kompany’s 4-2-3-1, three attacking slots are untouchable: Harry Kane through the middle, Michael Olise and Luis Diaz either side. That leaves one place, the No. 10 role, and for a long stretch there was only one serious candidate: Gnabry.
Jamal Musiala was ruled out for months with a fibula fracture. Lennart Karl, hugely gifted but still raw, was not expected to explode as quickly as he did. Nicolas Jackson only landed on Deadline Day in early September and then needed time to get up to Bundesliga speed.
So the choice for Kompany in the biggest games boiled down to a stark equation: Gnabry or nobody.
Karl emerged as a genuine alternative, Jackson got his chances and largely squandered them, and Musiala finally returned in January. Yet when it mattered most, Kompany kept turning back to Gnabry. The winger-turned-playmaker had forced his way into the heart of the project almost by persistence and circumstance.
A crowded No. 10 and a fading favourite
Now the landscape has shifted again. The battle for that fourth attacking slot alongside Kane, Olise and Diaz is as open as it has been in years. Musiala, Gnabry, Karl and €50 million signing Ismael Saibari all have a realistic claim to minutes. With a packed schedule looming, Kompany will have to rotate heavily. Nobody can say with certainty who starts the marquee fixtures.
On paper, Musiala should own the role. He wears the No. 10 shirt. He is one of the club’s top earners. Bayern had earmarked him as the face of the team and a non-negotiable starter.
Right now, he is nowhere near that status.
Since his comeback in January, Musiala has struggled to recapture his old level. After a flat World Cup, he underwent surgery to remove a metal plate from his foot. Then came the worrying scenes in pre-season: collapses in friendlies against RB Leipzig and 1. FC Heidenheim that raised serious doubts about whether the 23-year-old could handle the relentless intensity at the very top.
The diagnosis of absence epilepsy has changed the conversation around him. Neurologist Dr Regina Becker, speaking to SPOX, stressed that professional football remains entirely possible with the condition. Musiala, for his part, has no intention of stepping away.
In a widely discussed Instagram post, he wrote that, in close coordination and regular consultation with experts, it was his personal wish to confront the challenge and, with clearance from neurological specialists, to continue his everyday life and pursue his passion for football. No pause, no self-imposed exile. He wants to play.
Saibari seizes the early edge
While Musiala’s resilience is under the microscope, Gnabry and Karl have had their own hurdles. Both missed the World Cup with muscle injuries. Both spent most of pre-season working on individual recovery programmes. Only now are they being phased back into full team training.
There is a chance they feature as early as Saturday’s Super Cup against Borussia Dortmund. If not, the expectation is that both will be fully available for the Bundesliga opener against VfB Stuttgart the following Friday at the latest.
Saibari, though, has stolen a march on all of them.
Fresh from an eye-catching World Cup with Morocco, the 25-year-old also had to pause with a torn muscle fibre. Once fit, he hit the ground running. He is now fully up to speed, has looked sharp in his first two friendlies and delivered an assist in the 3-1 win over Leipzig. Compared with Musiala, Gnabry and Karl, Saibari is simply the fittest right now. That alone gives him an early advantage in the fight for the vacant attacking berth.
Behind that quartet, Bayern’s academy has again flashed its depth. Loan returnee Arijon Ibrahimovic and youngsters Tim Binder and Maycon Cardozo all impressed across pre-season. One of them could yet mirror Karl’s rapid ascent from last year.
The difference this time is the traffic in front of them. With Kane, Olise, Diaz and now Saibari anchoring a deeper, more established attacking unit, the pathway is narrower. The door is not closed, but it is heavier.
For Kompany, that congestion is a luxury. For Musiala, Gnabry, Karl and Saibari, it is a test of who can turn a fleeting opening into a permanent place in Bayern’s best XI.
