‘Very healthy’ Davies focuses on Bayern commitment, Concacaf semi-final
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EDMONTON – Alphonso Davies says he is “very healthy” after recovering from a thigh injury in late April, and says he will be available for Canada’s Concacaf Nations League semi-final against Panama in Las Vegas on June 15.
“We’re going to see what happens in the Nations League in the first game – I’m healthy to start,” Davies said Tuesday before hosting a soccer camp in north Edmonton for school-aged children.
“Whether the coach starts me in the game or puts me in the second half, I’m able to play.”
Davies missed the end of the Bundesliga season as Bayern Munich dramatically claimed its 11th consecutive German title in the season's final weekend.
But, despite the 22-year-old’s eagerness to also feature in Canada’s Gold Cup squad less than a week following a potential Nations League final against the United States or Canada, Davies’ agent Nick Huoseh says the star left-back will not play in the Gold Cup.
“I know he won’t be participating in the Gold Cup,” says Huoseh. “Managing an athlete like an Alphonso Davies is a lot of work and we have to try and manage his schedule.”
Davies is spending a portion of his off-season in Edmonton to visit family and start his soccer camps, in partnership with Huoseh’s agency ATG Sports Management. Davies considers grass-roots sports an important pillar of his off-field brand, and calls spending time with young soccer players “truly a blessing.”
But Huoseh says Davies’ on field and off field schedule have been consistently crammed over the last two years; a schedule that was complicated as Davies recovered from myocarditis last winter and then a hamstring injury before playing and scoring for Canada at the 2022 World Cup.
“Last year was tough for him [Davies],” Huoseh says. "He was off five-to-six months with the myocarditis and I don’t think it fully healed – I mean, it took a lot out of him. And then coming into a World Cup and performing at top, top level."
"It's always a challenge because he always wants to be out there playing – you try to put him back into first gear and he just wants to be in 10[th gear]."
What will keep the attention around Davies in high gear are reports tying him to a move to either Manchester City or Real Madrid. Davies sees the rumours, but they don’t bother him.
“The transfer rumours are out there, but at the end of the day they’re still rumours,” he says. “I still have two years left at Bayern. My main goal is to play at Bayern and help the team as much as possible.”
Davies’ current deal expires in 2025. Last month, Huoseh confirmed to TSN that a number of clubs were interested in Davies while Bayern were trying to sign the Canadian to a contract extension.
Huoseh says there are no new developments, and conversations – with Bayern and other clubs – is something he and Davies are learning to manage.
“There is a lot of navigating to do,” Huoseh says. “I have spoken to other clubs – they have texted and spoken to us; but we haven’t had any in-depth conversations with anybody.
“He [Davies] is with Bayern Munich. He has two years remaining on his contract. We don’t know what will happen in a year from now."
Although Bayern Munich claimed another German title, the team almost immediately parted ways with chief executive Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić, who helped bring Davies to Bayern in 2018.
Bayern’s boardroom changes follow its March decision to replace manager Julian Nagelsmann with Thomas Tuchel.
Despite plenty of movement at Bayern, Huoseh says Davies’ soccer future is on a wide spectrum between “anything is possible” and staying at Bayern for his whole career or “he [Davies] could move.”
Davies insists his focus right now is playing for Bayern Munich.
“It’s a turnover situation right now [at Bayern], you can see there is change in management, but that doesn’t really affect the players,” Davies says. “For me it’s important to play for the club I’m at.”
“He’s happy at Bayern,” says Huoseh of Davies. “He’s won a number of titles at Bayern and they’re a good club, one of the top clubs in the world. And there are not many clubs he can move to when you think about it.”
“There are a select few clubs that an athlete like Alphonso Davies can go to."