World champion, undisputed regular player – and now the biggest loser under the new coach Julian Nagelsmann: Benjamin Pavard’s (25) difficult situation at Bayern Munich and in the French national team.
It was in the summer of 2020 when Benjamin Pavard’s injury-related failure deeply shocked Bayern Munich. After his signing from VfB Stuttgart, the French world champion immediately won an undisputed regular place in Munich, playing through almost every game for a year. But then Pavard suffered a ligament injury in training before the summer Champions League final tournament.
What now? There was no nominal substitute for Pavard, coach Hansi Flick instead ordered Joshua Kimmich to his unloved ex-position. He played this role again for the first time in a friendly against Olympique Marseille at the end of July. Kimmich convinced Flick – just like the opposing right-back, by the way: Marseilles Bouna Sarr.
“Bayern’s coach liked my performance. He told me he wanted to get me,” Sarr later told RMC Sport. Sarr actually moved to Munich, but before that, FC Bayern won the Champions League with Kimmich as a right-back, making the triple perfect.
Benjamin Pavard has been looking for forms for months
Pavard’s absence faded into the background with every win at the final tournament in Lisbon. He should never play as convincingly again, never again be as important as he was before he retired. Meanwhile, it has little to do with the newly signed Sarr: He neither got a chance under advocate Flick, nor does he do that under his successor Julian Nagelsmann.
No, in fact Pavard’s rapidly declining importance has primarily to do with Pavard himself. In the post-triple season he was mostly a regular player, but hardly shone. In the current one, his working hours have shrunk alarmingly – although there is still no proven substitute of international level. According to reports, FC Bayern is therefore looking for a new right-back.
With small exceptions, Pavard has been looking for form for months and has been the biggest loser among Nagelsmann’s renowned squad players so far. This also has to do with ailments: an ankle injury at the start of the season was followed by a red card suspension. “Not necessary,” said Nagelsmann Pavards’ too hard boarding in the game against Greuther Fürth.
He completed only 568 of the previously possible 1620 competitive game minutes this season, in the previous Bundesliga game against SC Freiburg he was not used at all. Instead of sales candidate Sarr, Josip Stanisic and the actual central defender Niklas Süle were allowed to show themselves in the back right in the three-and-a-half chain. If they have the ball themselves, they often act as central defenders in disguise, because Alphonso Davies likes to mutate into a winger on the left and so there is a need for protection.
Benjamin Pavard is aiming for a future as a central defender
Pavard would prefer to play as a true central defender, but the competition with that particular Süle and his French compatriots Lucas Hernandez, Dayot Upamecano and Tanguy Nianzou is great there. “My position has always been central defense. That’s where I feel most comfortable, that’s where I have the most fun. I think this position shows my qualities better,” said Pavard about a month ago.
Nagelsmann finds such open expressions of opinion by his players “basically always good”, that is. “What matters is which address you send it to.” If Nagelsmann had his way, the correct address would have been Nagelsmann rather than the TV broadcaster Canal +. Pavard also used the interview to defend his own style of play. The main accusation against him is, as is well known, the lack of a move forward. Pavard has only scored four points for FC Bayern since summer 2020, compared to eleven in the triple season alone.
“On paper Pavard’s style may be less sexy than Hakimi’s or Arnold’s, but defensively I think I’m more complete,” he said, comparing them to the acclaimed Achraf Hakimi from Paris Saint-Germain and Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool FC, who interpret the full-back role similar to Bayern’s left-back Davies more offensively. But: “If I weren’t good enough, I wouldn’t be a regular and I wouldn’t play for France.”
Benjamin Pavard and the argument with Paul Pogba
Pavard has long since lost his undisputed regular place at Bayern and he was also used less and less for the French national team. Incidentally, not only because of a lack of offensive vigor, but also because of repeated defensive carelessness.
In the two final World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan (8-0) and Finland (2-0), Pavard initially only sat on the bench. Against Kazakhstan, his club mate Kingsley Coman played as the right track player in the 3-4-3 system, who was subsequently praised by his teammates for his performance in an unusual position.
Meanwhile, the relationship between Pavard and some other French internationals is said to be bad. In the wake of the messed up EM in the summer, according to French media reports, he had a clash with Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane. In the Nations League final victory against Spain in October, Pogba even attacked him in front of the public on the pitch for poor defensive behavior.
Recently, Pavard received criticism not only from teammates, but also from fans. A banner with the inscription “Pavard = Kreisliga” hung in the Allianz Arena.
