Problem for Real Madrid? Alphonso Davies now 'a shadow of his former self'

Tom Weber

Updated: 1 Apr 2024 16:28 BST
4 min read

Alphonso Davies has not been his usual scintillating self this season - and this is not just a concern to Bayern Munich.

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The Canadian left-back is arguably the best in the world in that position, but he has rarely shown it this term. Much like the rest of his Bayern teammates, Davies has endured a difficult season and the weekend's game against Borussia Dortmund - the first home loss to BVB in over a decade - hammered home this point.

The result led to consternation in Munich, with Joshua Kimmich offering a particularly scathing assessment of the fixture: "I wonder how we can put in such a performance in a game like this. It's completely inexplicable to me, it's completely incomprehensible. In the second half, you had the feeling that nothing was at stake. It was like a friendly game. We players should go home and question ourselves."

While many of Bayern's players underperformed on the day, Davies was the player singled out for criticism by Germany legend Lothar Matthaus. Intriguingly, the former Ballon d'Or winner does not believe that the 23-year-old is struggling because of his public contract war with Bayern.

'A shadow of his former self'

"Alphonso Davies is a shadow of his former self," Matthaus told BILD, "his mind is not clear. Players also need to be treated with kid gloves from time to time. A friendly conversation needs to be had off the pitch – like Uli Hoeneß used to do. Jupp Heynckes, Ottmar Hitzfeld or Udo Lattek also did that in the past."

"The reasons for his crisis lie in the past few months, and not just because of the difficult conversations and negotiations with his agent in the past few weeks." Davies is currently in a contract stalemate with his club after the Bavarians issued an ultimatum, which prompted a very angry public response from agent Nick Huoseh.

Real Madrid will surely have been licking their lips in recent weeks as the rift between the German giants and the Canadian grew, but his form ought to also be a major concern to Los Blancos. Davies is not the player of years past - hence why Bayern are reluctant to meet his salary demands - and they may have to think twice about spending north of €50 million on him.