Author Football. ua Andrei Shakhov (junior) analyzes the prospects of Sandro Wagner Munich.
Munich Bayern Munich continues to develop a stereotype that all German football works to strengthen its composition. No well-proven footballer in the Bundesliga was not infringed by attention from scouts of Germany's greatest club. On the one hand, in modern football this is a completely customary situation, on the other - it is already starting to get bored.
Usually we witness the signing of Bavaria by young, promising players, or the stars for astronomical amounts of money. This time the situation is radically different: Bayern's newcomer Sandro Wagner is far from a star and has long been young. And to strengthen the golden composition of Jupp Heinkes he will be extremely hard. Unless to become an understudy of one of the best forwards of a planet of Robert Lewandowski, but about all in the order.
To begin with, Sandro's arrival in Munich is a long-awaited return home. For those who know little about the 30-year-old German striker, I note that the footballer was born in Munich and is a pupil of Bavaria, joined at the age of eight. However, Wagner could not be called the main prospect of the club, and the leadership did not rely heavily on his candidacy. Nevertheless, a chance was given to him. For the 2007/08 season, the 20-year-old Wagner was preparing with the first team and in connection with the unconvincing play of Podolski, Tony and newcomer Shlaudraff, soon got his chance. In the only season for Bavaria, Wagner played only 5 official matches, in which he gave only one assist. In the off-season, he left the club to go on a ten-year tour of Germany through Duisburg, Bremen, Kaiserslautern, Hert, Darmstadt and Hoffenheim.
Sandro Wagner - undoubtedly, a football player of late development. And this is sufficiently influenced by the non-standard thinking of the player. The striker understood that at the age of 20 he left Bavaria - one of the greatest clubs on the planet, and the main task was to set himself back to his native team. However, the continuation of his career for the football player did not go exactly as he intended. Perhaps this is due to the fact that he often walked the path of least resistance. The fact is that the forward regularly gave preference to the modest clubs in Germany and flatly refused to leave his country, despite a sufficient number of proposals. Wagner believed that being "the best among the worst" is more effective for him than vice versa, because sometimes he chose teams with far less tournament ambitions than any other football player would like. He repeatedly challenged himself, moving into the camp of the debutants of the Bundesliga and the last of them, finally, brought the expected result.
In 2015, the elite of German football suddenly broke through Darmstadt. Of course, being considered the main outsider of the championship long before his start, he immediately began to improve the composition. The main striking force of "lilies" was offered to become Wagner, who early broke the contract with Herta, due to unsatisfactory results (75 matches, 8 goals).
Perhaps this was the beginning of the rise of Sandro Wagner's career! Becoming the leader of Darmstadt, he not only helped him avoid the departure from the Bundesliga, but also turned his new club into a real tough nut to the strongest clubs in Germany. The forward himself, at last, began to score, and, almost in every second match! Wagner sent the ball into the net gate of 10 of the 17 opponents in the championship, scoring exactly 15 goals in 34 games for the "lily".
Perhaps one of the main events in Wagner's career was his meeting with Julian Nagelsman. The young coach wanted to strengthen the composition of Hoffenheim, which was almost the main discovery of the last championship. As part of the new club, the striker once again began to fight for prizes in the championship, again felt the taste of European cups (Wagner once played one match for Bavaria in the UEFA Cup), continued to show impressive statistics and even made his debut for the national team!.
Only this season, Sandro is not lucky and it's softly said. Since August, he replenished the hospital of the club three times, conceding 9 games out of 25 in total! And because of another problem with Achilles, he never managed to hold a farewell match in Hoffenheim, coming out on the field for the last time already on November 26. However, in his first interview after his return to Munich, he delighted the fans with the fact that he has now fully recovered and is ready to start training camp in Bavaria.
Now Wagner deservedly be called one of the best German forwards. He became the third player in the last six months, who moved from Hoffenheim to Bavaria. However, if Rudy and Zyul were able to strengthen the country's champions, managed to increase the competition in the first team, can Sandro Wagner do it - a huge question.
The history of the transfer began with an interesting interview with the main striker of Bavaria Robert Lewandowski, who admitted that it is difficult for him to play the whole season without a substitution, conducting on the field from whistle to whistle. The Pole tried to reach out to the leadership to find him a backup, and subtly hinted that this striker should be young, want to learn from an older friend and, as Robert himself said, "to be hungry".
The management of the club did not listen to the advice of the star striker of Bavaria and decided to buy him an understudy older. The transfer amount of 30-year-old Sandro Wagner amounted to 13 million euros, despite the fact that Hoffe bought it for 2.8!.
Wagner understands that it will be extremely difficult to force out a star competitor, or, most likely, unrealistic. On questions of journalists about the competition with the Pole, the forward responded only at the second attempt, referring to the fact that the coach will make a decision. A version of the game of Bayern in two forward looks even less real!.
Even if you compare the statistics of two forwards, the difference is visible to the naked eye.
Bundesliga 2016/17:.
Lewandowski Wagner Played minutes 2777 2601 Number of matches 33 31 Number of goals 30 11 Assists 7 4 Goals per match 0.9 0.35 Bundesliga 2017/18:.
Lewandowski Wagner Played minutes 1376 872 Number of matches 17 11 Number of goals 15 4 Assists 0 2 Goals per match 0.88 0.36 A bit illogical looks like this signing with Mueller and Gnabri leased, who can play in the center of the attack. Last season, Serge played a considerable segment of the championship in the center of the attack, when Bremen broke several forwards, and he showed himself quite well, thanks to which he found himself in Bavaria in the summer. However, the champions of Germany decided that until they count on the young talent and gave it to Hoffenheim. As a result, in six months Munich buy another player to attack, but this time already a clean striker.
It is clear that Wagner will not sit on the bench all the time and at some points will appear on the field. However, for these few moments, the 30-year-old striker has virtually no effect. First of all, everything depends on Lewandowski, on his fatigue, health, the importance of the match. What not to say, but Bayern signed a good player for the bench - it's a plus club. Dimensions and style of the game, many compared him to Lewandowski, but this striker - obviously not the level of the starting lineup of Bavaria.
But will Wagner return to Bavaria for himself, in addition? In financial terms - yes, of course! In the household - too, because in Munich lives his family and loved ones. But in the career plan ... in this I very much doubt.
Certainly, Sandro the good fellow: he the fighter, the hard worker and has proved first of all to itself, that dreams can be embodied in a reality thanks to persistent work and coolness. However, the amount of playing time he will now be several times less, and in fact the age is already peak. Even if in the future the forward regrets his decision to return to Munich, the opportunity to fix everything with every off-season is getting smaller. Time goes by and next year Wagner will be already 31.