Bayern Munich’s head coach pushed back firmly when asked whether his captain was slipping. Speaking to Sky and RTL on 8 October, before the Bundesliga resumed against Augsburg, Vincent Kompany dismissed the discussion around Kimmich’s status as a Germany starter as a passing side-show.

“I often try to stay out of these mini-debates because that’s all they are: mini-debates,” the Belgian told the broadcasters, in comments reported by Bulinews.

He added that the direction of travel between club and country is the opposite of what the discussion assumes: he is not, he said, swayed by what happens with the national team, because “the national team is influenced by what happens at the club.”

Where the debate came from

The flashpoint was Germany’s October international window under new head coach Jürgen Klopp. Without Joshua Kimmich on the pitch, a midfield of Aleksandar Pavlovic and Tom Bischof alongside Florian Wirtz impressed in a 2-0 Nations League win over Serbia on 2 October, and pundits began to ask whether the 31-year-old captain was still an automatic pick.

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Lothar Matthäus, Oliver Kahn and Michael Ballack all weighed in. Matthäus argued Kimmich must keep proving himself like anyone else; Kahn said he no longer saw the midfielder as a guaranteed starter under Klopp; Ballack suggested others could overtake him. The criticism, according to reporting from Absolut Fussball, also turned tactical, with Klopp’s leaner single-pivot midfield cited as a poorer fit for Kimmich than Bayern’s double-six.

Kimmich’s answer on the pitch

The debate has cooled since. Kimmich scored and was named man of the match as Bayern edged Mainz 2-1 on 7 November, drilling in a Harry Kane lay-off from the edge of the box for his first league goal of the campaign. The win kept Bayern top of the Bundesliga under interim boss Aaron Danks, with Kompany himself only returning to the training ground on 10 November after a collapse in late October that was linked to meningeal irritation.

Klopp, who replaced Julian Nagelsmann as Germany head coach over the summer, has recalled Kimmich to a trimmed 24-man Germany squad for the November fixtures. Germany face Serbia away on 13 November and the Netherlands in Berlin on 16 November in their final UEFA Nations League group-stage matches.

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