'They're not duds!' - Vincent Kompany accused of having no 'courage' as upset Bayern Munich legend criticises Club World Cup decisions

Former Bayern defender Markus Babbel has publicly criticised the head coach for not giving more playing time to academy players during the Club World Cup. Speaking to Sport.de, Babbel questioned Kompany’s reluctance to integrate young talents such as Lennart Karl, who featured for only 45 minutes in the first match of the competition against Auckland City before being sidelined for the remainder of the competition.

Despite winning the 2024-25 Bundesliga with 82 points, Bayern were eliminated from the Club World Cup at the quarter-final stage following a 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain last week. The competition was seen as an opportunity to rotate the squad and test emerging players. Babbel believes Kompany missed a strategic opportunity to build for the future, arguing that Bayern possess some of the best young talent in Europe and should be showcasing it on such stages.

Babbel said: "That's definitely something I don't like at all right now. First of all: Vincent Kompany managed to calm the team down again. They had two very difficult years under Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel. And Kompany then brought calm, led them to the German championship, and did a truly fantastic job. He communicated everything well, managed well; it was really great."

Babbel added: "What I don't like at all is that he doesn't have the courage to bring in young players. The Club World Cup was actually predestined for that. When you're playing against teams like Auckland, he lets the young players have a go, gives them a chance to show off. We're talking about talented players who can do something. These aren't duds! You don't just throw someone in there because they won a spot somewhere and get a chance to play with the pros... These are the best young players in Germany, or even in some parts of Europe. But none of them make it through."

Bayern will regroup ahead of their pre-season tour later this month with transfer talks ongoing, including a major update on the pursuit of Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade. Internally, pressure may grow to promote youth talents into the first-team setup, especially when they have a DFL-Supercup to play in August. Kompany is expected to address the integration of academy players when Bayern begin the upcoming campaign.