Will Thiago Alcantara Ever Join Muller and Alaba Among Bayern Munich's Core?

Bayern Munich understand very well the importance of long-term squad building. They managed to build a successful side that consistently contended for Champions League glory around the core of captain Philipp Lahm, deputy Bastian Schweinsteiger and world-class wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.

Although there was likely interest from other clubs in all the aforementioned, the Bavarians moved quickly to enter contract negotiations and did not undervalue the importance of consistency in their squad.

In May of 2010, Ribery's deal was extended until 2015. By year's end, the club had announced that Schweinsteiger and Lahm had prolonged their respective contracts until 2016. Those deals were incredibly important to the squad's long-term development.

Now with Schweinsteiger gone, Robben just a few months from joining Ribery and Lahm as 32-year-olds, Bayern are building their next core.

Douglas Costa has a contract that will run until 2020, while Bild (in German) has recently reported that Thomas Muller, Jerome Boateng and David Alaba are close to long-term extensions, perhaps until 2020 as well. Meanwhile, Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski are also set to remain at the club until 2019 at least.

These are all players among a relatively young core, a set of players who will spend the rest (or nearly the rest) of their prime years in Munich.

Among the recently extended contracts is that of Thiago Alcantara, who in August penned an extension that will keep him in Munich until 2019.

But his scenario is a bit different, with the Spaniard having had his career thus far blighted by injuries. And following yet another setback experienced on Tuesday (the club announced on their official website that a knee injury will keep him sidelined for three to four weeks), one has to wonder whether Thiago will ever join the likes of Muller and Alaba among Bayern's relied-upon, trusted core players.

In terms of talent, Thiago absolutely fits the description of a player who could fit into Bayern's core. His complete range of skills in midfield makes him a rare asset, and the 24-year-old has a great, winning mentality. His position is especially critical in today's game, given the midfield focus Bayern have come to have.

At the same time, it's an unfortunate reality that Thiago has been injured again and again. Via Transfermarkt, the midfielder has missed 83 games in his Bayern career due to injuries, and he will likely miss another seven more before he returns from his current ailment. Overall, he's played in just 55 games in two-plus years in Munich, for a total of 3,590 minutes (just over an hour per appearance, on average).

Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press

Much of the time Thiago missed came during last season as he recovered from a series of knee injuries. But the fact that he's again sustained structural damage to his knee is cause for concern. His current capsular strain isn't as serious as the ligament damage he previously sustained, although the injuries that kept him out for a full 12 months were initially supposed to be rather minor.

Things seemed to be going very well for Thiago after he returned to action this spring, and indeed, he was playing superbly. But his most recent injury, especially considering its location, is a major setback.

When Bayern signed Thiago in the summer of 2013, he looked to be the next great midfielder at the club. He had all the potential to be a superstar and a pivot of the Bavarians' play in the center of the park. But as of yet, injuries have prevented him from becoming the relied-upon midfielder he promised to be.

Time will tell whether he'll be a cornerstone of Bayern's new core, but as of now, he fits more in the Holger Badstuber and Javi Martinez category than that of Muller and Alaba.