Bayern may drop Martinez and Kroos to fit in new signings

Considering Bayern Munich won the treble last season, providing £50m to Pep Guardiola to strengthen his squad may be deemed a bit excessive, especially as he now has 11 midfielders to slot in at the Allianz Arena.

Toni Kroos is probably the player with the most to fear from the arrivals of Mario Gotze and now Thiago Alcantara, as he was most widely used as the central attacking playmaker under Jupp Heynckes last season.

Guardiola certainly has options in midfield, but it would perhaps be expected that Franck Ribery, Gotze and Thomas Muller will line up behind a lone striker, with Arjen Robben and Xherdan Shaqiri pushing for starts.

But there are reasons to believe that Kroos could be shunted backwards slightly into a deeper midfield role, as this is where he started against German lower league club SG Sonnenhof Grossaspach.

Guardiola had Xavi dictating and play-making from a deeper position at Barcelona and there is no reason to believe that Kroos couldn’t do something similar, especially as he is a clever player from a positional standpoint.

What this would mean for Javi Martinez is the obvious question, especially as his energetic performances in midfield earner the bulk of the rave reviews last season.

However, he has previously played in central defence for Manuel Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao and could be asked to do the same again at Bayern, alongside Dante.

Whether Martinez’ tenacity and workrate would be wasted at centre back is a discussion for another time, but this looks one of the only options for squeezing more ball-players into the side, as Barcelona has previously done with Yaya Toure and Javier Mascherano at Barcelona.

Whichever concoction Guardiola opts for in midfield, it is hard to take on Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga betting, which is backed up by the fact that they are 1/6 to be crowned champions again.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.