If you’ve had even a passing interest in the German Bundesliga over the last 10 years, then chances are that you are quite familiar with Bayer Leverkusen center back Jonathan Tah.
Honestly, if anything, it’s a surprise that Tah hasn’t joined Bayern Munich by now, because he is one of the most recognizable central defenders in the country – and one of the best ball-playing defenders, which is an attribute Bayern tend to seek in center backs.
The thing is, Bayern were smart for holding off on signing Tah, because his growth stagnated from the time he first emerged on the scene as one of the top young German center backs to watch.
Tah has never been an above-average starter for the German national team, and at Leverkusen, he was quickly outshined by Edmond Tapsoba in defense, then further eschewed in the headlines with the rise of prospects Odilon Kossounou and Piero Hincapie.
Last season, Leverkusen won the Bundesliga without suffering a single defeat, and Tah rose to the fore again with a strong season as a leader, performing at a high level again defensively,
Bayern Munich tried to sign him last summer as a replacement for Matthijs de Ligt, who has since moved to Manchester United, but a deal fell through after a bizarre war of words between Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro and Bayern exec Max Eberl, dooming any hopes of a deal.
Tah will be a free agent at the end of the 2024/25 season, so Bayern can get the last laugh over Carro in the end by signing the 28-year-old defender for free this winter, but should they go for him just because he is free?
After all, Tah would be yet another older signing and lacks upside. He is established in the Bundesliga but has never blossomed into an elite center back, offering a less tantalizing skill set than either Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae.
Because he is free and known in German football, Tah wouldn’t necessarily be a bad signing for Bayern, but he wouldn’t be the best or most exciting addition. Here are five better center back candidates for Bayern to consider in 2025.
Mohammed Salisu, Monaco
I’ve been a believer in Mohammed Salisu since I started covering LaLiga as a Real Madrid editor in the 2019/20 season. Salisu caught my eye at Real Valladolid, blossoming as one of the better center backs in Spanish football on a below-average team.
Salisu brought his best against THE best, shining against eventual champions Madrid before parlaying a strong campaign into a Premier League transfer, joining Southampton in summer 2020.
The Ghanian was quietly great in the Premier League, too, averaging 2.4 tackles and 2.3 interceptions per game for the Saints in his second season. After their relegation in the 2022/23 campaign, Salisu moved to France, joining Monaco and continuing his understated excellence.
Injuries are the major concern with Salisu, who has missed significant time in two separate seasons, but they are really the only glaring concern for a 25-year-old center back with several years of top-level expereince.
Salisu is affordable and not yet in his prime. Although the majority of Bundesliga fans have probably never heard of Salisu, there are 50 guys like him out there in European football who are borderline world-class three years before their primes but remain underrated because they never got a chance at one of the clubs the English media covers wall-to-wall.
So that makes Salisu a market opportunity. And look, being a regular starter for a Monaco side that looks poised to challenge for the Ligue 1 title is pretty prestigious in its own right, just as it was impressive to watch Salius go toe-to-toe with Karim Benzema or shine in the Premier League.
Tuta, Eintracht Frankfurt
Even within the Bundesliga, there are more intriguing options than Jonathan Tah, such as Eintracht Frankfurt starter Tuta, who has been outperforming the Bayer Leverkusen man to start the 2024/25 season.
Tuta is a great athlete who puts his body on the line and is now entering his prime at 25, improving rapidly as he cuts down his mistakes and becomes a more confident player on the ball.
One of the best raw talents in the Bundesliga just a few years ago, Tuta is now becoming one of the best center backs in the league for one of the most promising sporting projects in, truly, all of Europe.
Is Tuta a better player than Tah at this very second? No, but he could be closer than a lot of mainstream outlets would lead you to believe. And since he’s three years younger, he comes with significantly more upside, especially since he’s developed much more rapidly between 23 and 25 than Tah ever did.
Bayern Munich and any top Bundesliga team is more likely to be rewarded by gambling on a high-upside, athletic defender because of the style of play in the league, which is very fast and open compared to other European leagues.
That approach can burn a team a little bit in the Champions League, which Bayern saw firsthand when Dayot Upamecano dropped a legitimate 0 out of 10 stinker against Manchester City in the knockouts.
But comparatively, Tah isn’t a proven Champions League commodity either and isn’t good enough to start for a Champions League team, whereas Tuta could conceivably be at that level in a couple of years when he’s 27 and remain there for another three to five seasons.
When the discussion is framed in this manner, I know who I would take, and Bayern can always pair Tuta with a “reader” as opposed to a “chaser” center back.
Castello Lukeba, RB Leipzig
Real Madrid and other elite clubs are already being linked to RB Leipzig center back Castello Lukeba, who has effectively replaced Mohamed Simakan as the borderline world-class, highly underrated young defender who is about to break out into true superstardom.
Lukeba might actually be a better investment than Simakan anyway, so Simakan’s decision to chase the paper in Saudi Arabia won’t come as a disappointment to Real Madrid, then, who would have more reasons to sign Lukeba than Simakan with their continued defensive injury crisis.
It would behoove Bayern Munich to jump ahead of the competition in the line for Lukeba, and the biggest club in Germany tends to win the transfer races for superstar Bundesliga players over the other clubs when they put their minds to it.
There are cases when megastars like Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham won’t move to Bayern, but that’s because 1) They played for Dortmund and 2) They already had pre-arranged channels with clubs outside Germany. When it comes to Leipzig players, Bayern are always favorites until proven otherwise.
Lukeba is a better pure defender and athlete than Tah, and he’s not far off as a passer either. He was stellar for Lyon and has picked up where he left off at a bigger, regular Champions League club in Leipzig.
He’s been a top-class defender in Ligue 1 since the 2021/22 season yet is still only 21 years old. Bayern should be all over Lukeba in 2025.
Dani Vivian, Athletic Club
Dani Vivian first broke out as one of the best defenders in Spanish football in the 2021/22 season, as he shined as a breakout star alongside some of the best and most seasoned defenders on a nasty Athletic Club back line.
As Bayern Munich witnessed first hand with Javi Martinez over a decade ago, Athletic Club produce some very fine talents in world football, and Vivian should not be overshadowed by attacking teammates like Nico Williams.
Vivian is having a wonderful start to the 2024/25 season with 1.4 tackles, 1.3 interceptions, and 5.1 clearances per game while being dribbled past just 0.1 times per match.
Not yet in his prime at 25 years old, Vivian is, yet again, a more consistent defensive presence and more physical than Tah, especially as a marker. There’s really no advantage Tah has over Vivian other than passing and experience, which should not mean as much to Bayern as pure defensive quality at this juncture.
Willian Pacho, PSG
Tuta is the current best center back at Eintracht Frankfurt, but in the 2023/24 season, that honor clearly belonged to Willian Pacho, who needed just one season with the mid-table Bundesliga side before parlaying that success into a transfer to Champions League semifinalists PSG.
Pacho was excellent in the Belgian league for Antwerp before moving to Frankfurt, picking up where he left off as if there were no real step-up in competition to the Bundesliga.
Now in Paris, Pacho has actually raised his game further, and even though he, like Lukeba, has a few years of starting experience under his belt, he remains at the prospect level in terms of age as a 22-year-old center back.
The Ecuadorian international is currently completing 95 percent of his passes in Ligue 1, improving rapidly on the ball and showing signs of potentially surpassing Tah as a passer when he gets to roughly the same age as the German international.
Again, as with Lukeba, Tuta, Vivian, and Salisu – but especially Lukeba – Pacho comes with more future upside and is arguably even better than Tah right now. Bayern Munich can benefit from rolling the dice on a player like him, though it may be tougher to convince PSG to sell a prized asset than Leipzig or Eintracht.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.