Joshua Kimmich makes feelings clear on Liverpool signing Florian Wirtz

Joshua Kimmich has claimed Bayern Munich are now light in attack after the club lost out to Liverpool in the race to sign Germany international Florian Wirtz.

Despite leading the race to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayern Leverkusen, Liverpool got the biggest deal this summer after Wirtz chose the Premier League champion over the Bundesliga champion.

With Bayern still on the look out for fresh legs, Leroy Sane also decided it’s time to leave the club for a new challenge. The Germany international left the Bundesliga champions for Galatasaray.

Bayern face Auckland City in their Group C opener at the controversial Club World Cup on Sunday afternoon and asked before the game about Wirtz, Kimmich pulled no punches.

Florian Wirtz (L) is chased down by Joshua Kimmich during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Round of 16 first leg match between FC Bayern München and Bayer 04 Leverkusen. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

“You’ll have to ask the club what their plans are,” he said. “Of course, you have the feeling that we could do something – with Flo (Wirtz) not coming, with Leroy leaving, with Thomas leaving.

“I was surprised that (Sane) is going to Turkey. I didn’t expect that. But it’s his decision and he’ll have his reasons for it.”

Kimmich’s comments follow sporting director Max Eberl admitting that the Bavarians would not have been able to match the fee paid by Liverpool for “outstanding” Wirtz.

But Eberl insisted there is a clear strategy in place this summer and the free agent arrivals of Tom Bischof and Jonathan Tah are a stride in the right direction.

Eberl said: “I am sure that we will have a competitive team – and that we will also have the finances under control. If I’m honest, I don’t know if we could have paid what Liverpool are apparently paying now.

“Florian Wirtz is an outstanding player. We could have imagined signing him. But when a door closes, another opens. The focus is on the squad we have here. We’ve brought along some young players, and now we’ve added two Germany internationals in Tom Bischof and Jonathan Tah, who have come in on free transfers. That’s already a big step.

“We have a clear plan on how we want to implement things. But there’s still a lot to do. I’m certain we will have a very strong squad.”