Bryan Zaragoza: Granada star a symbol of Bayern Munich's changing transfer strategy
Bryan Zaragoza will join Bayern Munich from Granada immediately. After originally signing the Spaniard for the 2024/25 season, Bayern accelerated the deal following an injury to winger Kingsley Coman. Bayern will now sign Zaragoza for €4 million on loan this winter before making the transfer permanent for €13m next summer. Once on a permanent deal, Zaragoza will be under contract until the summer of 2029. Bayern have a good history when it comes to Spanish players as Zaragoza will become the eighth player in Bayern’s club history.
"Bryan Zaragoza is a very fast and extremely agile winger who can play on both wings,” Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said in a club statement. “He is unpredictable, a goal threat, and very good in one-v-one situations. He has already made his debut for the Spanish national team this year and has a lot of potential. Bryan is one of the hotshots in Spain and has been on our radar for a long time. He will expand our attacking options."
The speed with which Bayern Munich signed Zaragoza ahead of January window and then accelerated the deal to have the player available for the second half of the season is only surprising at first glance. With new sporting director Freund in charge, the Bundesliga giants have the goal to sign outstanding players before they become global top stars. In many ways, this follows a strategy Freund followed at his previous club Red Bull Salzburg. And Zaragoza perfectly fits into that target group. After already scoring five goals and two assists in 14 LaLiga games this season his market value increased from €1.5m to €8m. There is a good chance the market value increase will increase further when Transfermarkt updates LaLiga later this month.
Zaragoza to Bayern Munich: A typical Christoph Freund transfer
But what sort of player is Zaragoza? “Zaragoza is one of the surprises of LaLiga,” Transfermarkt Content Manager Spain Iván Fuente said. “He is Granada's offensive leader with 5 goals and 2 assists. He has even been called up to the national team despite his team's poor performance, which makes it more difficult to shine in LaLiga. Although most often used as a right winger, Zaragoza can also play on the other wing and in the middle. He is a fast player and unpredictable player in one-v-one situations. He is a good dribbler.”
Those impressions are backed up by the stats on Wyscout. Zaragoza leads LaLiga with 135 one-v-one dribbles, and he is third in the league with 9.65 dribbles per 90 minutes. One major advantage for Zaragoza is his low center of gravity, which, according to Fuente, makes it difficult to bring him down in duels. But what about weaknesses? “His weakness could be his lack of experience,” Fuente said. “He also still lacks stamina; Zaragoza’s brilliance depends on his speed and freshness.”
Indeed, Zaragoza has also been described as a typical street footballer who, at times, still seems a bit raw. But that, too is part of Bayern’s new transfer strategy. The club wants to ensure that big transfers like Harry Kane will remain the exception. Instead, the model is to sign players like Alphonso Davies or Mathys Tel, who were signed for relatively low fees but have since increased their market values significantly. The hope is that the same will happen with Zaragoza.
- Date of birth/Age:
- Sep 9, 2001 (22)
- Nat.:
- Current club:
- Bayern Munich
- Contract until:
- Jun 30, 2029
- Position:
- Left Winger
- Market Value:
- €12.00m
- Total Market Value:
- €87.50m
- Competition:
- LaLiga
- Position:
- 20.
- Manager:
- José Ramón Sandoval
- Squad size:
- 26
- Latest Transfer:
- Theo Corbeanu
- Total Market Value:
- €930.95m
- Competition:
- Bundesliga
- Position:
- 3.
- Manager:
- Thomas Tuchel
- Squad size:
- 28
- Latest Transfer:
- Bryan Zaragoza