Why Javi Martinez Is the Forgotten Bayern Munich Player Who Will Explode in 2015

When Jupp Heynckes announced (via Bild) in May 2012 that Bayern Munich needed a new midfielder, it was rather surprising.

The Bavarian giants had lost the Champions League final just four days prior, with striker Mario Gomez proving ineffective and Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben impotent in attack against a depleted and entirely vulnerable Chelsea team. It appeared that midfield was not the problem for Bayern but rather a lack of nerve.

Yet in the proceeding summer, Bayern’s marquee signing would prove to be Javi Martinez, who signed for a club-record €40 million transfer fee in late August. The following season, the Spaniard along with Bastian Schweinsteiger would forge one of the most dominant central-midfield partnerships football has ever seen, as Bayern shattered record after record.

The two were a perfect combination, each providing something going forward and combining to make a perfect screen for the center-backs. Bayern would end that season with the first and only treble in their history.

Martinez has flown off the radar over the last year, however, as the 26-year-old spent almost the entirety of last season sidelined after suffering a cruciate ligament tear early in Bayern’s first competitive match of the 2014-15 campaign. He only returned to some semblance of fitness in May and made just two appearances before season’s end.

Yet it could be Martinez who catalyzes Bayern’s return to the top of Europe’s elite next season, as he did two years ago. Although he's used in a different role under Guardiola than he was under Heynckes, he remains a unique asset in Bayern’s squad.

Guardiola often used Martinez at center-back, or at least in the deepest midfield role, during his first season in Munich. His partnership with Schweinsteiger was no more, with Martinez sitting as a link from the defense to midfield either as a third center-back or in a Sergio Busquets-type midfield role.

In Martinez’s absence last season, Guardiola didn’t quite have the staff to play in his ideal style. He experimented with a three-man back line of Dante, Jerome Boateng and Mehdi Benatia, but the three center-backs lacked Martinez’s versatility in shifting from defense to midfield.

When he swapped Dante with David Alaba, the Austrian often played well but was occasionally outmuscled in situations in which Martinez would have proved to be more robust and appropriate as a third center-back.

Upon his return to form and fitness, Martinez will bring a skill set no other Bayern player possesses back into the team, and in doing so, he will allow Guardiola to play the style of football he prefers. His move will also free up Alaba, a player capable of being a real engine in midfield but who was held back somewhat last season by his defensive duties.

Having an anchoring presence like Martinez available will also allow Thiago Alcantara to flourish in an Andres Iniesta-type role, essentially piling the defensive responsibility on the ex-Bilbao man’s capable shoulders.

Although Martinez has hardly played in over a year, he’ll have a full preseason to prepare for the upcoming campaign, which should be enough time for him to regain his power and endurance, rediscover his strengths and internalize exactly how Guardiola intends to use his qualities.

His tactical understanding will be especially crucial, but the months of July and August should be enough for him to get a thorough understanding.

Assuming Martinez makes a full recovery and becomes the player he was two years ago, he could once again become a key figure in the Bayern lineup.

He already proved himself a title-decider, and now approaching his 27th birthday, he is in the athletic prime of his career. He’ll have had plenty of time to recover by the start of the season and could well be the man to lift Bayern back to the pinnacle of European football.

@Mr_Bundesliga