Joshua Kimmich Emerges as the Silver Lining to Bayern Munich's Defensive Crisis

As football becomes more and more financially fueled, one of the greatest regulators in keeping the game competitive is the fact that only 11 players can be on the pitch at any time, and only three substitutes can be used per game. Even a club that buys dozens of superstars is limited by these figures.

The downside is that as clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have emerged as mega-rich, their ability to develop young players has waned. How can a young forward hope to develop and reach his full potential when he has Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi ahead of him in the pecking order? What happens when there are world-class options even on the bench?

Over the last few years, it's proved extremely difficult for youngsters to develop at Bayern. Emre Can and Mitchell Weiser are two examples of quality players who have left for more opportunities and become quite successful elsewhere.

Pierre Hojbjerg, Gianluca Gaudino and Sinan Kurt are also top talents who have left the Allianz Arena in search of more playing time: All were effectively frozen out of the squad due to the abundance of established, quality options ahead of them.

Joshua Kimmich has been much more fortunate. The former Stuttgart and RasenBallsport Leipzig man caught the eye of Pep Guardiola earlier this season and was praised.

After Bayern's 4-0 win over Stuttgart in November, the trainer singled him out as "unbelievable," per Goal. But Guardiola added: "He deserves to play more often," an admission that not every player who deserves minutes can get them at Bayern.

Per Transfermarkt, Kimmich played just 352 minutes in the Bundesliga during the first half of the season, his favored defensive-midfield position always being occupied by established stars like Xabi Alonso, Arturo Vidal and Thiago Alcantara.

Over the last few weeks, however, things have changed greatly for Kimmich.

A slew of injuries have left Bayern extremely thin in central defense, and Guardiola has had little choice other than to field the 21-year-old at the back. The youngster has been a revelation in four starts in central defense, with Bayern conceding just one goal in the process.

Guardiola again praised Kimmich, per ESPN, after a recent scoreless draw with Leverkusen, who had two quality strikers in Stefan Kiessling and Javier Hernandez.

The clean sheet was an improbable achievement against the in-form Chicharito and aerially dominant Kiessling. Yet Holger Badstuber and a quite undersized Kimmich managed to do outstandingly well to limit the Werkself to hardly a hope of scoring.

"

Lewandowski & Thiago for MOTM but Kimmich again just about ... pic.twitter.com/CSYhzWujmp

— Cristian Nyari (@CrisNyari) February 14, 2016"

From his central-defensive role, Kimmich has been able to employ the same kind of dogged ball-winning skills and cultured distribution that make him such a well-regarded option in midfield.

And in truth, it is in midfield where his future lies; the 1.76-meter Kimmich simply lacks the size and stature of a center-back, and he would get steamrolled by a more physical striker like Diego Costa. In fact, the Bayern man has already been suspect from crosses on numerous occasion.

At present, Kimmich's advantage is in the fact that Guardiola's system is geared towards containment: Opponents are often forced to punt the ball hopefully upfield, and the center-backs serve as retrievers. In another system, he would be put under much more pressure, and opponents would surely look to exploit his diminutive stature.

Still, playing in defense is a great opportunity for Kimmich to gather experience; whether in his natural position or elsewhere, it's far better than playing with the reserves in the German fourth division or sitting on the bench with the first team. 

As such, Kimmich's emergence can be seen as a bit of a silver lining to the defensive crisis Bayern are facing.

He's not a long-term solution at the back, and the German giants will certainly need to consider signings this summer. But as he becomes more experienced and grows in confidence, Kimmich looks more and more like a player who—sooner or later—will have his time in the Bayern midfield.

@Mr_Bundesliga