It has been a decent loan spell thus far for Josip Stanišić
Letting Josip Stanišić leave Bayern Munich on loan to Bayer Leverkusen during the summer transfer window was perhaps not the best decision made by the club’s board in retrospect.
Since Benjamin Pavard can play center-back as well as right-back, Bayern Munich also lost him to Inter Milan, which was equally significant. They ended up bringing in Eric Dier from Tottenham and Sacha Boey from Galatasaray to strengthen the defense because that is precisely the kind of player Thomas Tuchel had been pining away for the January transfer window.
With how well every member of Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen team has been playing together and beyond expectations, it is hard to single out a player who is not having a respectable season. Die Werkself’s current position and where they were before Alonso took over add credence to the laudatory anthems for the former player for Bayern, Real Madrid, and Liverpool. They will probably push Bayern to the very end of the Bundesliga competition.
It is difficult to believe Bayern would have allowed Stanišić go given their ability to see into a crystal ball how effectively he has been playing for Leverkusen, but that is the past and all Bayern can do is look back and lament that choice. But according to Maximilian Koch of az (via @iMiaSanMia), Bayern is actively following the Croatian international’s development at Leverkusen. They hope to have him back in the Bayern squad before the end of the season and are grateful for his continuous development and improvement there. His Bayern contract expires in 2026.
The defender’s desire to play for Bayern and under Tuchel will be the key question, though. It’s known that under Julian Nagelsmann, he felt valued more than he did under Tuchel in the second half of the previous campaign. The player’s intention to go out on loan this season was somewhat motivated by this, but considering how well the Croatian has performed at Leverkusen this season, Tuchel’s perception of him has probably altered from last season.
Naturally, Stanišić will be fully aware that, since he can also play center-back, he will be fighting for minutes at Bayern against players like Boey and Noussair Mazraoui in addition to Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs De Ligt, Kim Min-Jae, and Eric Dier. Whether at Leverkusen or elsewhere, he may discover that playing longer will provide him a more consistent opportunity to participate.
