Vincent Kompany says Bayern Munich's preseason on Jeju has become a different kind of problem to solve, with players returning at different times and some still coming off rehab. He said the squad is trying to build match fitness while staying patient with the reintegration of injured players.
That matters now because Bayern are on Jeju for preseason preparation, and Kompany said the trip has to do two jobs at once: help the team train and play under the best possible conditions, and still absorb promotional and media events during the week. He said the conditions for preparation have been met, but the schedule still demands focus.
Kompany called this his third preseason at Bayern and said no two have felt the same. Last year came after the Club World Cup, he said, and Bayern had their full squad back together only a very short time before the first matches. This time, the issue is not a late reunion but a staggered one, with different players coming back on different schedules.
That is why he described the situation as a puzzle, though not an impossible one. Bayern want to bring the returning players back gradually, not force the process, and Kompany said the most important part is making sure those coming back from injuries are reintegrated well. He said he is confident the squad will get the necessary match fitness and physical condition in time.
The friction is that preseason is never just about football anymore. Kompany told the players from the start that being on the trip also means handling promotional and media obligations in another country, while still working seriously and professionally. He said the group is used to that rhythm, but it leaves little room for drift when training time is already being managed carefully.
For Bayern, Jeju is less a break than a balancing act: the club is trying to prepare a squad that is still coming together, without losing the sharpness expected of a side viewed as one of the favorites in Europe to win the Champions League. The open question is how quickly the returning players can be folded in before preseason slips into the real thing.
