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Spain U-21 International Thiago Alcântara has completed his move from Barcelona to Bayern Munich for a reported €25 million, of which Bayern will pay €20 million and the rest will be paid through friendlies between the clubs and Thiago himself, forgoing bonuses.
With his release clause dropping from an astronomical €90 million to a more reasonable €20 million because of him not playing a stipulated amount of minutes in every match, a lot of interest had been generated in Thiago’s future over the summer. Manchester United were repeatedly linked with the midfielder and were rumoured to have agreed personal terms with him before the ex-Barcelona boss came calling.
A lot has been written and said about Thiago fitting in at Bayern. It had been widely reported that his lack of playing time at Barcelona had forced this move. That being said, Manchester United would have been the more obvious choice considering their lack of depth and quality in midfield and Bayern having an abundance of quality midfielders (after all, they are the reigning European Champions) which has led to lot of football fans questioning his decision.
Guardiola has said that Thiago is capable of playing in 3-5 positions and is open to moving fellow Spaniard and club record signing Javi Martinez (arguably one of the their best players last season) to centre back. Still, he faces competition from the likes of Bastian Schweisteiger, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Mario Goetze and Luiz Gustavo.
This is how Bayern might line up in 2013/14
Considering the fact that he has sold Mario Gomez and doesn’t look likely to bring any other striker in, leaving Mario Mandžuki? the only senior striker in the squad, it’s safe to assume Guardiola will stick to his 4-3-3 formation with a false 9, as seen in his days as Barcelona boss. We could see Bayern line up like this with Muller capable of playing instead of Robben or Gotze and Gustavo providing cover in midfield.
For what it’s worth, Guardiola must have something brilliant in mind. He did after all win 14 trophies in 4 years *jaw drops*.
