Transfer surprise! Six Bayern players are “allowed to leave for suitable offers this summer”….

Six players are allowed to leave Bayern for suitable offers this summer:

1. Kingsley Coman,

2. Serge Gnabry,

3. Leon Goretzka,

4. Joshua Kimmich,

5. Noussair Mazraoui

6. Matthijs de Ligt.

De Ligt has been the team’s best, most consistent defender for two straight seasons and is a vocal leader on the backline. Similarly, Kimmich, Goretzka, and Coman were all part of the team’s leadership council at different points. Is new coach Vincent Kompany working with Max Eberl and Christoph Freund to wash out a chunk of the team’s unofficial leadership group?

That is a possibility, but it is more complex.

Coman and Gnabry have long been targeted as candidates for sale this summer because of their recent injury-prone and inconsistent seasons. This has spurred a call to refresh the wing position, which would need one or two of the existing wingers to leave.

Kimmich and Goretzka have become targeted by those inside and outside the club as players who might not be necessary going forward in the central midfield. For his part, Mazraoui is one of four (with Kimmich) candidates to play right-back next season, so something had to give there as well.

A factor in these decisions could also be the salary budget. If Bayern Munich is going to re-up Leroy Sane and Alphonso Davies to lucrative deals, other expensive players might have to go to accommodate those new contracts moving forward.

Of all of those names, though, De Ligt is the most shocking — and would represent a move that definitely makes his position group worse.