Why Bayern Munich Need Niklas Sule and Sebastian Rudy

“We never comment on rumours,” was the unambiguous reply of Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to Sport Bild when asked about speculation Niklas Sule and Sebastian Rudy are headed to the Allianz Arena next summer.

While Herr Rummenigge is staying silent in public, he has undoubtedly been involved in the negotiations that German media are reporting widely have been ongoing between Bayern and TSG Hoffenheim over the duo, who appear all but certain to be swelling the ranks at the Allianz Arena come July.

Their arrivals would fit the habitual Bayern modus operandi of pilfering the nests of their Bundesliga rivals for their best talents, but the duo will be more than just trophies taken from weaker rivals. There is little doubt the pair will be of great use in helping fill some potentially worrying gaps in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad.

The Case for Niklas Sule

“Niklas is a great talent, more than that, he’s already an outstanding player, a really good centre-back. He has enormous potential.” No, not Sule’s mother but Mats Hummels, per Sport Bild, after last weekend’s win over Darmstadt, happily opening up to the press just as Rummenigge was attempting to keep a lid on things.

Though aged just 21, Sule is already closing in on 100 Bundesliga appearances and has shown again this season why Chelsea were reportedly ready to spend €30 million on him last summer only to be rebuffed by Hoffenheim, while Manchester United have also been on his trail, per Sport Bild.

“Quick, strong and comfortable with the ball at his feet, Sule has all the attributes to be a world-class centre-back,” Bundesliga expert Matt Howarth told Bleacher Report of the Hoffenheim youth academy product, who joined the Sinsheim club aged just 14.

“There is no doubt in my mind that he will go on to be a key player for his next club and at international level for Germany.”

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“He won’t come cheap, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find such a rounded central defender under the age of 25,” added Chris Mayer-Lodge, a freelance Bundesliga specialist, when quizzed by Bleacher Report. “A beast of a man at 6’5″ [1.95m], he is an uncompromising proposition for opposition strikers, he reads the game well and is a threat from set pieces at the other end.”

His physical size is a handy attribute at both ends of the pitch given the rough and tumble of the Bundesliga, while his ball-playing abilities, honed during his youth academy days as a forward—”I was really a super striker,” he told bundesliga.com recently, noting he once scored 100 goals in a season—make him the ideal ersatz Jerome Boateng or Hummels.

Indeed, Sule has better stats than the high-profile pair this season winning 64 percent …

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