Kimmich, the “son” that Guardiola met again

When Joshua Kimmich arrived at Bayern in 2015 -from RB Leipzig, who were just promoted to the Second Division- he met Pep Guardiolawho, although he would only direct it for one season, would become his mentor.

Guardiola – when a possible session of Kimmich in Stuttgart was raised, whose quarry he comes from – was against it. “Joshua is like my son,” she said.

In his first season at Bayern, Kimmich played 36 games. He arrived as a midfielder – the position in which he was trained – but with Guardiola, due to the needs arising from injuries, he played many games as a central defender.

Bayern’s technical secretary at the time, Michael Reschke, remembers that Kimmich that first season He comes to every training session with joy and healthy tension.

“The relationship between Kimmich and Guardiola is special. I’m sure Jo knows that Pep played an important part in his evolution,” Reschke told Sport 1.

Guardiola described Kimmich at the time as “a big investment in the future” and said he had “everything a soccer player needs.”

“Sooner or later it will be international,” he said and now Kimmich is seen as one of the essentials of the German team.

The relationship between the two was special before they met for the first time. When his agent said Kimmich than Bayern he wanted to sign him and that Guardiola himself had taken an interest in him, he thought they were playing him.

“I can’t believe, because it’s not something normal, that Bayern, a club that can sign any player in the world, wants me. What seems even more incredible to me is Guardiola“, he said in statements to the English newspaper The Guardian.

“Why me?” Kimmich asked Guardiola when they first met. “Then he told me how he liked my way of playing and what he liked about him. He also told me that there are situations where I can improve technically and for me there are other possible positions besides midfield,” Kimmich explained later. “He saw me at the Under-19 Euro Cup and got to know me very well,” he added.

Guardiola, according to Kimmich, showed him possibilities on the field that he had never seen before. He was also impressed by the fact that he knew him because he had mainly played in the third Bundesliga up to that point.

In the story of the two, there is a scene that became famous after a classic against Borussia Dortmund, on March 5, 2016, which ended 0-0 and one that Bayern were on the ropes but managed to pull off, partly thanks to Kimmich’s play at center back, the advances of Marco Reus and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang.

Guardiola eventually ran onto the field and tackled Kimmich. The content of the dialogue was later made public by journalist and writer Martí Perarnau. Guardiola complained to Kimmich that instructions were not followed which he sent with Mehdi Benatia. Kimmich said he had not heard of them. He apologized. And later Guardiola would have praised his game.

Immediately after the game Guardiola gave a more laconic version. “I told him he is the best centre-back in the world. But not only that, I told him he can play in any position”.

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Following Guardiola’s departure came a difficult period for Kimmich under Carlo Ancelotti, who relegated him to substitute status. Kimmich even considered leaving Bayern.

However, with the retirement of Philipp Lahm, in 2017Kimmich was given a chance to play immediately. In a way it was an imposition of Bayern’s leadership on Ancelotti.

When Lahm’s withdrawal is a reality the then president of the Board of Directors of Bayern, Karlheinz Rummenigge, was asked when signing Lahm’s successor would cost. “Nothing to pay. He’s already at the club and his name is Joshua Kimmitch”answered.

With the dismissal of Ancelotti in his second season, and the return of Jupp Heynckes, Kimmich has been unquestionable and has continued to be so ever since. His position is now his trained, midfield, leading the defense.

However, in 2020, the year of the triplet, he had to play the last part of the Champions League as a right back due to Benjamin Pavard’s injury and a standing request from Hansi Flick he is second right-back so that Kimmich will not leave his position again.

“It’s true that he can play in several positions, but you can’t expect him to play in all of them at the same time,” former international Didi Hammann said at the time.

To Bayern and the German team Kimmich currently has third place in the hierarchy behind Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller and is seen as the captain of the near future.