Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui reportedly not up to snuff in training sessions

Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui has not had luck on his side for the better part of the past four and a half months. Towards the latter stages of Morocco’s impressive World Cup run in Qatar, the defender sustained an injury and also had what was undiagnosed coronavirus that led to a case of pericarditis. As is the case with any type of complications to the heart, much like Alphonso Davies suffering from a bout of myocarditis last season, Mazraoui was sidelined for roughly three months.

Since returning to action fully fit, Mazraoui has only clocked a total of 13 minutes for Bayern. He came on for 12 minutes in Bayern’s 5-3 win over FC Augsburg in the middle of March and for 1 minute in the 1-0 win over SC Freiburg at the beginning of this month. He was ready and available on the Bayern’s bench as early as the March 8th clash against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16 second leg, a match in which Benjamin Pavard, a fellow right back, was suspended for due to getting two yellows and one red card in the first leg.

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Mazraoui might have very much a driving force for Pavard’s uptick in performances, as the latter might have felt threatened by Julian Nagelsmann and Hasan Salihamidizc signing the Moroccan from AFC Ajax over the summer. Mazraoui wasn’t purchased to be a bench player at Bayern and, on his day, he’s shown what he’s capable of. When he had to replace Pavard early on against Barcelona earlier in the season, he had one of his best performances in a Bayern shirt thus far.

Despite Mazraoui’s ability, there is reportedly concern from Thomas Tuchel and his coaching staff that the defender is actually still suffering with fitness issues and that his performance levels have dropped, as per Sport1’s Kerry Hau (via @iMiaSanMia). It’s understood that the coaching staff doesn’t feel his levels are where they should be since he’s returned to full team training and that he’s perhaps saying that he’s more fit than he actually is. In their eyes, he still has catchup work to do if he wants to potentially supplant either Pavard or Josip Stanisic in the starting lineups, especially now that the Bundesliga is the only competition Bayern is left in, meaning less potential for opportunities between now and the end of the season, with a very close title race with Borussia Dortmund.

Still, though, Bayern very much expects Mazraoui to big a big part of the club’s future and have absolutely no plans of putting him up for sale this summer. His contract runs through June 2026 and he’s currently valuated at €28m, per Transfermarkt.