Jamal Musiala appears to be on the verge of making his comeback with FC Bayern. According to Sky, club officials have decided to take the German national team player to Gelsenkirchen for the Bundesliga away game against Schalke 04.
This means Musiala could make his first competitive appearance of the season on Saturday evening. The star forward had missed the Super Cup against Borussia Dortmund, the Bundesliga opener against VfB Stuttgart, and the DFB Cup match at VfL Osnabrück.
On Friday morning, Vincent Kompany had left open the question of whether Musiala would return to the roster for the match against Schalke. The Bayern coach wanted to wait and see how the final training session went first.
“We’ll take a look in training today and then make the decision that’s best for Jamal and the team,” Kompany explained at the press conference.
Kompany: “Things are looking up for him”
The 23-year-old’s progress has the Bayern coach feeling generally positive. Musiala has completed “a good, full week of training.” Kompany added: “Things are looking up for him; he’s doing well.”
The Munich club continues to take a cautious approach with its star forward. After Musiala collapsed on the field during two preseason friendlies, he was deliberately left out of the roster for the first three competitive matches.
Musiala subsequently revealed publicly that he had been diagnosed with temporary lapses in consciousness. Since then, the national team player has been under medical care. Bayern had consistently emphasized that they had been aware of the situation for some time and were coordinating closely with the treating physicians.
At the same time, Kompany is trying to tone down the intense focus on Musiala. “We’ve already explained how we’re handling this. You can’t treat everything as extraordinary,” the Belgian emphasized.
What matters most is the current progress: Musiala is “in a good phase right now. We’ve been dealing with the situation for some time.”
Bayern is prepared for any possible scenarios
Those in charge are aware that further absences could occur. Kompany made it clear, however, that the team and coaching staff now know how to handle such situations.
“If it were to happen, it wouldn’t be a major cause for concern for us anymore,” explained the Bayern coach.
Musiala’s potential return to the squad is therefore an important step for him. After completing a full week of training, the attacking player appears physically ready to be gradually reintroduced to competitive action.
It remains to be seen whether he’ll actually get playing time against Schalke. However, simply returning to the roster would be a positive sign after the past few weeks.
This also opens up more options for Kompany on offense. Most recently, Nathaniel Brown and Ismael Saibari had primarily filled the role behind Harry Kane. With Musiala, one of Munich’s most important offensive players may now be returning—likely taking it step by step at first.