FC Bayern Munich: Nagelsmann enjoys “duel monster” Hernández
Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann loves the hearty style of football world champion Lucas Hernández, who sees “a monster in a tackle” on the pitch.
Nagelsmann, like fellow defender Dayot Upamecano, certifies the most expensive purchase in the history of FC Bayern Munich, with a transfer fee of 80 million euros, as a “great development” in the still young season.
“Lucas is a player who defends with heart, who loves to defend, who sweeps into every duel,” said Nagelsmann before the Bundesliga leaders’ guest appearance at VfL Bochum on Sunday (5.30 p.m.) of the 26-year-old’s style of play Hernandez. In his first three years at Bayern Munich, the Frenchman was injured again and again, which was not least due to his physical style of play.
On the pitch, Hernández is a ‘tackling monster’
“Of course he also has a bit of a wearing way of playing for his body. He always has minor ailments. But that’s also normal, the way he plows in,” remarked Nagelsmann: “That’s why he’s always a candidate to look out for, that he stays fit for the all-important weeks.”
The 35-year-old Bayern coach doesn’t just like Hernández as a footballer: “I really like him as a guy. He’s extremely funny and always in a good mood.” If you compare how Hernández plays on the pitch and how he performs outside, it’s very different: “He’s a very nice guy and a fun guy, but on the pitch he’s a monster in a tackle.”
In his fourth season in Munich, Hernández competes in the center of defense with compatriot Upamecano (23) and Dutchman Matthijs des Ligt (23), who was brought in for 67 million euros from Juventus Turin.
The Upamecano/Hernández duo started the first three competitive games. “Both central defenders have developed superbly, they play very seriously and make few mistakes,” Nagelsmann said in praise of the two Frenchmen. De Ligt is to start in Bochum for the first time, as Nagelsmann announces, provided that a hand injury allows de Ligt to use a splint.