Gnabry Returns: Saibari's Starting Spot at Bayern Under Threat
The clock is ticking for Ismael Saibari. Because Serge Gnabry is coming back.
The 31-year-old winger has edged ever closer to full fitness over the past week and is now pushing hard for a return to Bayern Munich’s matchday squad. After tentatively rejoining team training recently, Gnabry has now completed all drills at the start of the new week and, by all accounts, looks sharp again.
He has been out since April with an adductor injury, missing Bayern’s season run-in and the World Cup with Germany. Now, according to Bild, he could already be an option for Vincent Kompany in Thursday’s Champions League opener against Bodö/Glimt at the Allianz Arena.
A place in the starting XI would still come too soon. For now. But the battle lines are drawn.
Saibari under the microscope
The player most at risk from Gnabry’s return is clear: Ismael Saibari.
Bayern signed the Moroccan international from PSV Eindhoven last summer for a fee reported to be just under €55 million including bonuses. The investment underlined how highly the club rated him, and Kompany has given him early trust.
Saibari started both the 4-1 DFB Cup win over VfL Osnabrück and the goalless draw away to newly promoted Schalke 04. Yet in both games he was withdrawn after roughly half an hour, a brutal signal that his performances have not convinced over 90 minutes.
His Bayern story did begin brightly. Coming off the bench in the Bundesliga opener against VfB Stuttgart, a 5-1 win, he managed two goal involvements and looked like a dynamic link behind Harry Kane. Since that first flourish, though, the end product has dried up. No direct goal contribution has followed.
The criticism has grown louder.
Former Bayern midfielder and current TV pundit Dietmar Hamann has already delivered a stark verdict. On Sky, he described Saibari as a “wonderful footballer”, but then cut straight to the problem: pace.
“He is too slow. He's not just not quick, he's like a poor Kane. Kane is not the quickest and now his back-up is not the quickest either,” Hamann said, drawing a direct comparison with the England captain.
Hamann does not buy into the idea that Saibari is a multi-role solution either. “They say Saibari can play four positions – I say he can play exactly one position: that is behind Kane, because out wide he is too slow,” he argued, before adding that in the No 10 role he still rates “Serge Gnabry a class better” than Bayern’s new signing.
If Kompany sees it the same way once Gnabry is fully fit, Saibari’s starting place could vanish quickly.
Familiar referee, familiar memories
While the debate over Gnabry and Saibari simmers, Bayern are already tuning in to Champions League mode.
Their latest hunt for the trophy begins on Thursday at the Allianz Arena against Bodö/Glimt, and UEFA have handed them a referee with good recent memories attached: Rade Obrenovic.
The Slovenian official has only refereed Bayern once before, but that night went Bayern’s way. Last season, he took charge of their 2-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise, a result that sealed progression to the round of 16.
That match was anything but uneventful for Obrenovic. He awarded Bayern two penalties – Harry Kane converted one and missed the other – and showed Min-Jae Kim a second yellow card, reducing the German champions to ten men. All of his key decisions were judged to be justified.
So Bayern know what to expect: a referee unafraid to make big calls on a big stage.
Now the stage is set again. Gnabry is nearly back, Saibari is under pressure, and the Champions League lights are about to come on.
