Musiala's Return, Freund's Future, and Kane's Champions League Goals
Bayern Munich’s week has been shaped as much by medical reports and boardroom talks as by what happened on the pitch. Jamal Musiala is back, Christoph Freund is thinking, and Harry Kane is staring straight at the Champions League.
Musiala back on the pitch – but on a tight plan
At Schalke on Saturday, all eyes flicked to the touchline in the 57th minute. Jamal Musiala stripped off his tracksuit and stepped in for Lennart Karl, making his first competitive appearance of the season for Bayern.
The goalless draw against the promoted side was drab. Musiala wasn’t. Even though little really came off for him in footballing terms, the 23-year-old looked sharp, eager, and physically ready to compete. Every touch carried a hint of the old rhythm, even if the final product was missing.
This was no routine substitution. It was his first outing since Bayern had pulled him from action weeks earlier after he collapsed in two friendlies, incidents traced back to a neurological dysfunction. The diagnosis stopped his season before it started. He missed the Supercup in Dortmund against Borussia Dortmund (2-1), the Bundesliga opener against VfB Stuttgart (5-1) and the DFB-Pokal first round at VfL Osnabrück (3-1).
“After the incidents, we gave him some of the calm he needed,” Bayern board member for sport Max Eberl said after the match in Gelsenkirchen. The club adjusted his medication and, in close consultation with doctors, the coaching staff and Musiala himself, decided he was ready to return. Eberl made it clear: once in the squad, Musiala is “absolutely an option” and will be integrated straight away. Bayern want him back as the player “that decides matches for us”.
The comeback, though, will not be rushed. According to Bild, Bayern have mapped out a step-by-step plan: Musiala is to “get more minutes step by step”, with regular breaks built in to control his workload. Every stage of that process is to be coordinated closely with coach Vincent Kompany.
The message is obvious. Bayern know what Musiala can give them. They also know what they nearly lost.
Freund weighs up his next move
While Musiala inches forward, Christoph Freund is pausing.
As reported by the Münchner Abendzeitung, Bayern want to extend the contract of their sporting director, which currently runs until 2027, and they want it done ideally before the annual general meeting in November. With chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen and board member for sport Max Eberl already committed beyond next summer, the club are keen to lock in the third pillar of their sporting leadership.
Freund, though, is said to be in a “consideration phase”. One key factor, according to AZ, is the future of chief scout Nils Schmadtke. Schmadtke, regarded as a close ally of Eberl, is also under contract until 2027. If he leaves, Freund would have the chance to install a chief scout “according to his ideas”.
That possibility could reshape Bayern’s scouting structure. It also underlines the influence Freund already holds. Inside the club, his reputation is consistently strong, with particular appreciation for his work at the Campus and his role in youth and squad planning. His relationship with Kompany is also described as very good.
All signs still point towards an extension. The timing and the conditions, though, will say a lot about how much of Bayern’s future Freund is allowed to shape.
Kane’s unfinished business with Europe
On the pitch, Bayern’s ambitions are clear. Harry Kane has put them into one simple target: win the Champions League.
Before the start of the new European campaign on Thursday night (9pm, DAZN) against Bodö/Glimt, the 33-year-old striker spoke on TNT Sports about the club’s obsession with the trophy. “We are very close,” he said, looking back at last season’s agonising semi-final exit to eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain. Small margins knocked Bayern out. Kane wants those margins flipped.
“We are going into this season and saying: It has to be our year.” There was no softening of that line. Bayern are chasing their seventh European crown, and Kane is treating that hunt as a personal mission.
He knows the Champions League punishes even the strongest squads. It is “not just about being the best team. Sometimes you also need the necessary luck at the right moment,” he admitted. The challenge, as he framed it, is whether Bayern can find “that small difference” needed to push through and finally lift the trophy.
That hunger is shaping his own career timeline. Retirement? He is not entertaining it. “There are still things at club level that I want to win. The same applies to the national team,” said the England captain, who scored an outstanding 73 goals for Bayern and England last season. For him, it is about stretching this peak for as long as his body and mind allow: “savouring this moment for as long as possible.”
So Bayern move into autumn with a gifted playmaker being eased back, a sporting director weighing his power base, and a world-class striker openly demanding Europe’s biggest prize.
If they get the balance right – on the pitch, in the dugout, and in the offices – how long can anyone keep them from it?
