BAYERN:Five new faces set for opening workout

Pre-season programme
Five new faces set for opening workout








There are just two days to go before Bayern's official five-week summer break ends with the first-team squad reporting to the Säbener Strasse at 10 am on Friday morning, as Ottmar Hitzfeld's men seek to make up for failing to collect silverware last season.

To all intents and purposes, the club will be represented by a new team in the coming campaign. Six players have left the club but the 28-strong squad features nine new arrivals, counting in newly professional youngsters Mats Hummels and Toni Kroos. However, a clutch of players will still be absent when the stars work out for the first time in the new season.

Seven missing from restart

Coach Hitzfeld will initially be without three players reconvalescing after surgery, Willy Sagnol and Lukas Podolski (both knee), and newcomer Jan Schlaudraff (slipped disc). Meanwhile, Roque Santa Cruz and Julio Dos Santos, back from a loan spell at Wolfsburg, are currently in action at the Copa America in Venezuela.

Also missing will be star signings Luca Toni and Franck Ribéry, who have been ordered to report back on 4 July. Toni needs a few more days to recover completely from an operation on his foot, while Ribéry has been granted additional vacation after contesting two Euro 2008 qualifiers for France in early June.

Five new faces

However, the crowd certain to throng the training ground on Friday will catch a glimpse of five fresh arrivals. Zé Roberto officially commences his second spell at the club, while international stars Marcell Jansen, Hamit Altintop and Jose Ernesto Sosa are set to train at their new club for the first time. They will be joined by most recent recruit Miroslav Klose, due for his medical in Munich on Thursday before inking a four-year contract.

Both Valerien Ismaël and Bastian Schweinsteiger have recovered from long-term injuries and resumed training early this week. However, the pair are still pursuing a special rehab programme and are unlikely to undertake the full training burden, along with centre-half Lucio, who will report to chief medic Dr Müller-Wohlfahrt for treatment following surgery to repair a hernia.

Three reserves in Hong Kong party

All this means Hitzfeld will supervise around three-quarters of his squad on Friday, but when the Bayern party takes off for the weekend friendly in Hong Kong, the General will be shorn of even more of his players. Apart from those unfit to train, Zé Roberto, Ismaël, Schweinsteiger, Stephan Fürstner and Kroos have been excused the long trip to the Far East.

The party will instead include Christian Saba, Louis Clement Ngwat-Mahop and Sandro Wagner from the third division reserves, who also begin pre-season training this Friday.