CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | BREAKOUT STARS
Benjamin
Pavard
(Bayern Munich)B
ayern’s €35million summer purchase
from Stuttgart is a rarity in the Allianz-
Arena pro ranks: someone for whom
the group phase of the Champions
League is totally unchartered territory. Indeed,
strangely for a World Cup winner who was a key
figure in France’s 2018 triumph, the 23-year-old
defender has never featured in any European
club competition.
Not that he should experience any teething
problems on the continental stage. He already
has 22 caps for Les Bleus and, as he proved at
the World Cup, he knows all about competing
for high stakes. Lining up at right-back in Russia,
his performance levels were extraordinary and
he also scored the goal of the tournament with
a volley in the quarter-finals against Argentina.
After suffering relegation from the
German top flight last
term, he clearly felt
the time was right for
a career reboot.
“I’ve a great
hunger to win titles:
the Champions
League and the Bundesliga,” he declared in his
first Bayern press conference. “Like my new club,
I’ve very big goals. We are similar.
“Stuttgart’s relegation still makes me sad.
Maybe I should have left the club after the World
Cup. At the time it made sense for me to stay for
another year.”
While it’s often assumed that Bayern intend
to primarily deploy Pavard in his preferred role
as a centre-back, he is just as likely to emerge
as the in-house utility man, alternating between
stopper, full-back and defensive midfield briefs.
With Bayern’s usual packed schedule, the
graduate from the Lille academy should be
worth his weight in gold.Ryan Sessegnon
(Tottenham Hotspur)
Once he tunes into the nuances of Mauricio
Pochettino’s system and style of play, the
Spurs new boy should have a lot to offer. Able
to play left-back, wing-back, as a winger and
even on the right flank, the England under-21
international should be quite an addition.
Leonardo Balerdi
(Borussia Dortmund)While the Schwarz-Gelben are far from short of
central-defensive manpower – Mats Hummels,
Manuel Akanji and Dan-Axel Zagadou – the
20-year-old Argentinian bought from Boca
Juniors for €15m in January could still force
his way into coach Lucien Favre’s plans.Mbaye Diagne
(Galatasaray)The bustling Senegalese striker was in irresistible
form in the Turkish top flight last term, scoring
20 goals for Kasimpasa in the first half of the
campaign, then moving to Galatasaray, where he
added 10 more. He was on Juventus’ books some
five years ago but failed to play a single minute.“I’ve a great hunger to
win titles: the Champions
League and the Bundesliga”