Benjamin Pavard has made it quite clear that he wants to leave Bayern Munich this summer, and at this current juncture, FC Barcelona looks to be the most likely destination for him. He’s already said that he feels he’s already won all their is to win at Bayern on the heels of winning the World Cup with France in Russia back in 2018 and he’s long since voiced his opinion that he much prefers playing as a center-back more than right-back.
Bayern already has a plethora of center-backs on the roster, but Julian Nagelsmann has been given multiple headaches with the long-term absences of both Lucas Hernandez and Noussair Mazraoui in defense, so he’s going to give Pavard something he’ll surely like for the time being.
In the press conference ahead of the DFB-Pokal clash against Mainz, Nagelsmann said that he is planning to use Pavard more at center-back for the foreseeable future, partially due to not having either Hernandez or Mazraoui available for selection. He knows that Pavard has lots of experience at center back from his time at VfB Stuttgart, and he’s also deputized there a handful of times for Bayern under Nagelsmann. “I’m planning with him, like in the last few months. He played a lot of games with me, without Lucas we have one less center-back. Benji will play more at center-back than lately. He always did well there. He’s an important part of the team,” Nagelsmann said of his French, wantaway defender.
Per Transfermarkt, Pavard has played as a center-back for Bayern a total of nine times this season, while he totaled 11 appearances in the central of defense last season. It’s a bit of an odd one for him in the sense that he’s now going to get a decent run of matches at center-back, but has made it very clear that he wants to leave the club this summer. He really does not want to have to compete for minutes with Mazraoui once he’s back fit and likely still doesn’t prefer the battle for minutes with Hernandez, Dayot Upamecano and Matthijs de Ligt.