Who Is Joshua Kimmich?
Phillipp Lahm was one of the greatest players in German history.
With his retirement from the national team in 2014 and 2017 at Bayern Munich, he left a big hole on the right-back spot in both, the national team and Bayern Munich.
One young player who usually plays as a central midfielder took his spot and is on his way to not only replacing Lahm but also creating his own “legacy.”
Joshua Kimmich, the twenty-three-year-old player from Bayern Munich, is one of those talents who came through after the 2014 World Cup.
He received his football education at Stuttgart, together with Timo Werner.
After that, he developed at Leipzig in the third and second German leagues and was transferred to Bayern Munich in 2015.
Many fans were surprised by this move primarily because Bayern is known for ruining talents.
But Pep Guardiola was convinced of Kimmichs qualities.
In the first season, Kimmich received playing time as a central midfielder.
However, in a midfield with Alonso, Vidal, Thiago etc.
it was hard for him to play regularly.
Because of his high football IQ, Kimmich played multiple positions in that season.
Even in one game, Guardiola changed Kimmichs positions multiple times.
After Bayern missed almost all central defenders, the young German from Rottweil was supposed to defend in the centre.
Against Juventus Turin, David Alaba and Kimmich were the centre-back duo in Bayern´s victory over the “Old Lady”.
His good performances earned him a spot in Germanys squad for the European Championship in France, where Kimmich started as a right-back for the Löw team.
The right-back position is the one where he has remained since.
After Lahm´s retirement, he became Bayern Munichs new starting right back and played a strong season.
There is no doubt that Kimmich will start on the right side for Joachim Löw.
He will be the future of club and country.
His goal is to become captain one day, and if he keeps improving like that, this goal wont be unreachable.
The midfielder at the right back position
With Pep Guardiola´s revolution of the inverted fullbacks, the position is under observation.
In recent years, the tasks for fullbacks were straightforward: defend well and give width in possession.
Ideally, the fullbacks could overload the wing and cross the ball nicely.
Still, the fullback position is one of the last ones where playmaking isnt that important.
The requirements of the position make it so challenging to add playmaking and passing ability to that.
Only a few players like Marcelo or Philipp Lahm unite physical strengths and technical abilities.
You can count Kimmich in the same category.
Naturally, he possesses all the technical attributes of a central midfielder, his acceleration and speed allow him to fill the fullback position.
His passing ability especially led to all kinds of attacking options for his team once the ball travelled to the right wing.
One possibility is the classic wing attack, in which Kimmich makes an overlapping run while Robben, for instance, dribbles with the ball towards the centre.
However, a diagonal attack starting from the right wing is also possible because Kimmich is able to play accurate passes under pressure in the half-space.
This happens quite often with Thomas Müller playing on the right wing because Müller tends to move in the centre.
Here, for instance, Kimmich tries to create something from a deeper position.
The appearance of a whole behind Reals midfield is due to Kimmichs deeper position and Müller, who pushed the defence to the back.
Kimmich realizes that Müller is moving in t
