Sacha Boey knows he’s expected to hit the ground running at Bayern Munich

Boey knows Bayern is always expected to win and that the standards are higher than they might’ve been at Galatasaray.

Sacha Boey made his Bayern Munich debut in the 3-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach when he came on for Noussair Mazraoui in the 62nd minute of play. He had a sound shift where he did not really put a foot wrong, but it was hard to look too much into how he will fit at Bayern from such a short shift, though Bayern did not concede when he was on the pitch.

Boey signed from Turkish club Galatasaray for a fee of around 30-million euros and was the second defender alongside Eric Dier brought in by Thomas Tuchel during the winter transfer window. The club’s defensive players have been hampered with injuries so far this season and it is an area of the pitch that Tuchel really needed reinforcements in and there is also the added, off-pitch noise of Alphonso Davies pondering a potential move to Real Madrid during this summer’s transfer window.

Without any discredit to Galatasaray, making the switch from the Turkish outfit to the Rekordmeister is a big switch, especially in terms of the weight of expectation that is now on Boey’s shoulders. This is something that Boey is well aware of and is ready to fully embrace at his new club. “It was formative and mentally very complicated, because at the beginning it wasn’t always easy. Galatasaray is a club with a lot of pressure, you have to prove your qualities straight away. I think once you’ve played in Turkey, you can play everywhere. That will help me a lot for the rest of my career,” the defender explained to Téléfoot (via @iMiaSanMia) about his time at Galatasaray.

Now, in his new chapter at Bayern, Boey knows that he will be rivalling Noussair Mazraoui for starting time and playing minutes, fully aware of how much Bayern needed to invest in defenders in the January transfer window. Tuchel could even use him on the left flank if Alphonso Davies and/or Raphaël Guerreiro are unavailable for selection for any given matches. Either way, he knows a lot of expected of him in a season where the margin for error is razor thin with how well Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen side are playing at the top of the Bundesliga table.

“I know that I’m expected to perform straight away. I won’t have time to adapt. I have to prove myself right away, and I’m ready for that,” in a moment of self-recognition and self-awareness, looking forward to his tenure at Bayern.