Konrad Laimer: Who is the Bayern Munich and Austria midfield pressing machine?
Bayern Munich's new signing from RB Leipzig Konrad Laimer is one of the most combative and complete central midfielders in the German top flight. bundesliga.com profiles a player who has been compared to a prime N'Golo Kante...
Age: 27
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Defensive midfielder
Country: Austria (34 caps, four goals)
Data correct as of 3 June 2024
Key stats
The bustling midfielder has made a solid start at Bayern, making 29 Bundesliga appearances in 2023/24, his first season at the club. His value to the Bavarians was underlined by the fact he also played the full 90 minutes in all four matches in their UEFA Champions League quarter-final and semi-final ties.
Laimer is a product of the Red Bull Salzburg academy, but made his senior debut for the club's feeder side, second-tier Liefering, in 2014. Within months, he was back at Salzburg, where he became the Austrian Bundesliga's second youngest debutant, aged 17 years, four months and one day. Two years later and a first-team regular, the Salzburg native was named the 2016/17 Austrian Bundesliga's Player of the Season for his part in Die Roten Bullen's third successive league and cup double.
Watch: The best of Laimer with Bayern in the Bundesliga
Laimer made the switch to Leipzig that summer, spending his first two seasons in the Bundesliga flitting between central midfield and wing-back roles. The youngest player in the Austria squad that reached the last 16 of the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup, he made his senior international debut in his preferred holding role in a June 2020 Euro qualifier against Slovenia. The tenacious right-footer notched a brace of assists on his second outing, before scoring one and setting up two more on his third.
Laimer featured in every game during Leipzig's run to the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League semi-finals - to three Bundesliga appearances the following season, but he recovered in time to start all three group matches at the rescheduled 2020 Euros as Austria reached the knockout rounds for the first time in their history. Twelve months later, the Leipzig No.27 lifted the DFB Cup - Leipzig's first major title. He helped them retain that crown in 2022/23 after recovering from a persistent ankle injury earlier in the season. EURO 2024 is his second major tournament with Austria.
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Plays a bit like: Marcel Sabitzer
Although comparisons to N'Golo Kante have been made by Austrian national team coach Ralf Rangnick - and many others - his punchy international team-mate currently at Borussia Dortmund offers a similar profile.
While Laimer has a defensive background and Sabitzer a more attacking one, the former Leipzig colleagues both operate in the middle of the park these days and are united by their sheer relentlessness.
You'll be hard-pressed to find a player who harries the opposition quite as intensively as Laimer, who is also a dab hand at shielding the ball, recycling possession and facilitating counter-attacks. 'Dirty Work' could be his middle name.
Did you know?
Laimer, who was reportedly also scouted by Manchester United, grew up idolising Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerrard.
"The way he played football, the passion and the emotions - that's what I was always able to identify with," the Austrian said after his move to Leipzig.
What they're saying
"For me, he is ahead of even N‘Golo Kanté when he is fit. He is a central midfielder, a number eight. I don't see him as a defensive midfielder, but a player that gains value when you have transitions." - Austria coach and former RB Leipzig sporting director Ralf Rangnick
"We're on the same frequency. We always want to press high and put the opposition under pressure." - Leipzig and Austria midfielder Xaver Schlager
"He is incredibly aggressive on the ball, challenges opponents very hard and brings established professionals to the ground. He knows exactly what he wants." - former Salzburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach head coach Adi Hütter
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