The highly talented central defender Tanguy Nianzou (19) still plays no role at FC Bayern Munich. While his injury series was the problem last season, it is currently a combination of his position and his talent.
It was almost exactly a year ago that Ralf Rangnick dared to make a bold forecast. After seeing Tanguy Nianzou in the Sport1-Doppelpass had almost casually touted as the “best central defender of the next ten years”, said Rangnick: “And I’ll make a decision: If he stays reasonably healthy, he will be a regular at Bayern within a year.”
If Rangnick says something like that, then that carries weight. Hardly any football expert has anticipated as many great careers as he has in recent years, and hardly anyone knows the international talent market as well. With several of his discoveries (which he was allowed to buy for several millions) Rangnick formed established clubs like TSG Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig into established Bundesliga and even European Cup participants.
Rangnick also wanted to lure Nianzou from Paris Saint-Germain to Leipzig several times, but last summer the then 18-year-old ultimately decided to move to FC Bayern without a transfer. Sports director Hasan Salihamidzic rejoiced at the time about the commitment “one of the greatest talents in Europe”.
Nianzou has not yet been able to underpin this status at FC Bayern with regular appearances. In his first season this was due to an unprecedented series of injuries, which makes a review of Rangnick’s regular place prognosis obsolete at this point in time. In the current season, it’s a combination of his position and, curiously, his talent.
What bothers Julian Nagelsmann about Tanguy Nianzou
Julian Nagelsmann took a lot of time at a press conference last week to explain the background to Nianzou’s role as a reserve. The expert trainer literally enjoys being able to explain his motives in detail when it comes to such questions. It was exactly the same when it came to Omar Richards a few weeks ago.
This time Nagelsmann reported via webcam from his kitchen that Nianzou was undoubtedly “a great talent with a lot of potential and a very good central defender in terms of football”. “But sometimes that’s not so good, because then you have a lot of confidence in yourself. That is a good thing per se, but it leads to mistakes every now and then.”
Wouldn’t be that bad in itself, if Nianzou weren’t stupidly a central defender. “If you come out of the youth sector as a ten and play away from your soul, it doesn’t have the same implications as when you do it as a central defender or goalkeeper,” explained Nagelsmann. The further back a mistake happens, the more fatal it is. “And he had one or two mistakes too many in the training sessions and test matches.”
Tanguy Nianzou was a pre-season regular
Nagelsmann was able to collect plenty of test match impressions at Nianzou in the summer. Because, unlike many of his colleagues, he was not in action at the European Championships, Nianzou was not given an extended vacation and started work on time for the start of training. Incidentally, together with his compatriot Dayot Upamecano, who was also not included in the French EM squad. In most test matches, the two formed the center-back pair.
While Upamecano then established himself as a regular player, Niklas Süle and Lucas Hernandez, who joined the team late, moved directly past Nianzou in the central defender hierarchy. So far this season he has only played 197 minutes of competitive play – and produced loudly Opta no mistake that led to a goal or even an opponent’s shot. Nianzou was on the pitch for the last time in mid-September, and recently he was occasionally absent from the squad.
Tanguy Nianzou is not planning to say goodbye in winter
What now? What will become of the supposedly best central defender in the next ten years? According to Nagelsmann, the point is “that he finds a good middle ground in order to be as serious as possible and still not lose his courage”. Only then will Nianzou “really be an alternative”.
It goes without saying that it remains to be seen how long Nianzou (contract until 2024) would like to go along this path. According to information from SPOX and Goal, an obvious loan change in winter in cases like this is out of the question for him, at least until next summer he wants to recommend Nagelsmann. If you apply Rangnick’s bold prognosis to the end of his series of injuries in spring, Nianzou will have a regular place by then anyway.
