Although coach Vincent Kompany has been rotating freely at Bayern Munich, he no longer seems to have any use for Hiroki Ito. The defender is one of the big losers of the start of the season and could leave the club in the winter.Hiroki Ito welcomed the international break that has now ended. The 27-year-old defender featured in all four matches for Japan and started three of them. In the mini invitational Kirin Cup, he converted his penalty in the shootout in the semi-final against Ecuador. He then played the full match in the final win over New Zealand. All told, Ito racked up 288 minutes.That stands in stark contrast to his record after seven competitive matches for Bayern Munich: ten minutes, off the bench in the Champions League during the 5-0 win over FK Bodö/Glimt, when the game had long since been decided. At left-back, coach Vincent Kompany has turned instead to the resurgent Alphonso Davies, new signing Nathaniel Brown or Josip Stanisic. In central defence, Dayot Upamecano, Jonathan Tah and Min-Jae Kim have shared the minutes. Kompany appears to have no further use for Ito.Alongside sale candidate Sacha Boey, who has not yet been used at all, Ito is one of only two established outfield players in Bayern’s small squad who have so far been practically frozen out of Kompany’s otherwise wide-ranging rotation. Eighteen players have already received at least 166 minutes of playing time. Serge Gnabry is likely to join that group soon. The 31-year-old marked his comeback shortly before the international break and recently made three appearances for Germany.How have Hiroki Ito’s first two seasons at Bayern Munich gone?Ito joined Bayern Munich from VfB Stuttgart in 2024 for the fixed transfer fee of €23.5 million. Two metatarsal fractures then sidelined him for almost a year and a half, with a short interruption. Last November he finally returned, and the sporting leadership unanimously hailed his comeback as an “internal new signing”.Next matchesFCABundesliga10 Oct 202621:30FCBFor the rest of the season, Ito played regularly as well, making 23 competitive appearances and establishing himself as a reliable rotation option. Sometimes he featured on the left of a back four, sometimes in the middle. In the closing weeks of the already decided Bundesliga season, he was practically a regular starter, starting five of the final six matches. In the DFB Cup final against Stuttgart, he was at least brought on.IMAGOHiroki Ito could leave Bayern Munich in winterDuring the summer, the Munich club signed another versatile left-back in Nathaniel Brown from Eintracht Frankfurt for €50 million, but also let Raphael Guerreiro go. Even then, Ito’s future at Bayern Munich was in doubt despite a contract until 2028, although the club’s bosses made contradictory statements.At the end of July, board member for sport Max Eberl said he was open to selling Ito: “If Hiroki should have thoughts of a move because he himself realises that it will be difficult, then we will deal with that.” At first there was no sign of that, and he also featured in five of six pre-season friendlies, even playing the full game as Bayern’s only outfield player in the dress rehearsal against Heidenheim.Shortly before the end of the transfer window, Ito was suddenly linked with a move to Ajax Amsterdam, but it did not materialise. Christoph Freund then told Bild: “It was never our major intention to let Hiroki go. He is an important player who is now properly fit again over a longer period of time.” Right now, though, Ito is about as far from being “important” in Kompany’s team as Japan is from Munich. Only the absence of one or more rivals is likely to change his situation. Otherwise, Bayern Munich will make intensive efforts in winter to sell Ito.
