Jay-Jay Wirtz

ÜBERTOR

Please don’t shoot the messenger

Jérôme Boateng has been training with FC Bayern since Sunday. The accusations against the world champion seem to be of secondary importance for the record champion.

In the case of a potential signing of Jérôme Boateng as a new Bayern defender, his ongoing legal proceedings would probably not be an obstacle to signing him. At least that is how the statements of Bayern’s sports director Christoph Freund can be interpreted.

Freund: “Presumption of innocence applies”.

“As far as Jérôme as a private person is concerned: Thereis a trial but at the moment they are suspended, so this is also his private story. That’s why it’s not a big issue for us,” Freund said before FC Bayern’s departure for the Champions League match in Copenhagen. In the Boateng case, the presumption of innocence applies, Freund said.

“First and foremost, sporting considerations play a role,” Freund stressed. The goal is to decide on a return of the 35-year-old to FC Bayern by the end of the week, he said. Because of the personnel problems in the defence, they are “looking for solutions”, Freund explained. Boateng, who is also expected to train at Säbener Straße in the coming days, is “a very pleasant man who has been well received by the boys in the team. I can only say positive things about him,” said the Austrian.

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Boateng is currently without a club. Last season, the 2014 World Cup winner hardly made any appearances for French first division club Olympique Lyon and made headlines mainly off the pitch.

The Bavarian Supreme Court recently overturned Boateng’s conviction for assault and insult, and the trial will be reopened. The defender had been fined a total of 1.2 million euros for assaulting his ex-girlfriend.