Eberl speaks on Musiala's contract and Goretzka's situation in pre-kickoff interview
Shortly before Jamal Musiala became the third quickest FC Bayern München league goal-scorer in history on Saturday evening, club board-member-for sport Max Eberl spoke on the state of contract negotiations with the 21-year-old in a pre-kickoff interview with Sky Germany. Eberl also used the occasion to echo the sentiments of sporting director Christoph Freund when it came to the criticism leveled at the young star by German pundit Dietmar Hamann.
"That's exactly what serves as a testament to his quality," Eberl said when discussing Musical's style-of-play. "That's what solves situations for us. We often play against a deep block. Then you need someone who does something extraordinary. And that's what Jamal can do."
“The fact is that we have been exchanging ideas for months," Eberl said of the state of Musiala's contract negotiations, "We will sit down and talk. We will do this in our own time.Jamal knows what he has at Bayern. But we also know what we have in Jamal.”
"He should become one of the mainstays at Bayern," Eberl continued, "We want to win the Champions' League. We want to win national titles. Our aspirations will help Jamal garner his own personal rewards."
Due to the fact that the team sheets had been released, Eberl also had to answer questions about the absence of Leon Goretzka. The out-of-favor German international - just like in the opening Pokal round - did not make Vincent Kompany's match-day squad. Goretzka has thus far only logged negligible minutes as a time killing post-90th minute sub this year.
"We communicated very clearly from the start," Eberl said, "Leon knew that we were relying on Pavlo [Aleksandar Pavlovic], and that we we would bring in with Palhinha and that Josh [Kimmich] would play more in the center again. It's just that the competition is fierce..”
“We've also said that when Leon is there and ready to face the situation, he'll be treated completely normally," Eberl continued, "Leon's a great guy. I like him a lot, even though he's obviously upset at the moment. I understand that too. But that's part of life in football.”
For his part, trainer Kompany is on record as stating that he might still need Goretzka to play out of position. Kompany himself referenced the tight schedule ahead (Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday in the UCL and Werder Bremen on Saturday in the leauge) as reasons he might still need him.
“Let's see at the end of next week," Kompany remarked a Friday presser, "We still have three games. We'll need everyone."
