Joshua Walter Kimmich (born 8 February 1995) is a German professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or right-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. He is known for his complete playstyle, versatility, aggression, and playmaking ability. He is often compared with former Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm and is considered his successor.
After coming through RB Leipzig's youth academy, Kimmich began playing for the club' first team in 2013. Two years later, he joined Bayern Munich. In the 2019–20 season, after winning the continental treble with Bayern Munich, Kimmich was included in the UEFA Team of the Year, the FIFA FIFPro Men's World11, and was recognized as the UEFA Champions League Defender of the Season.
Horst Hrubesch has praised Kimmich for his versatility, saying "Joshua has enormous quality and is versatile in both attacking and defensive roles," also describing him as "an intelligent player with good technical skills and agility" and as "a winner." Remarking on Kimmich's versatility, a 2017 article on the Bundesliga's official website referred to him as a "veritable Swiss Army knife of a player", citing Guardiola's conversion of a player he once referred to as "one of the best defensive midfielder in the world" into a right-back. He has also been used as a make-shift centre-back on occasion, as a central midfielder, or even as a deep-lying playmaker, due to his ability to dictate play in midfield. In 2015, Guardiola described Kimmich as a promising player, and noted that he "...has everything a player needs. He is very intelligent, always aggressive toward the ball, strong in the air, has an eye for free space, has superb vision and knows when to charge forward and when to sit back."
Amin Younes complimented Kimmich's defensive awareness as well in an interview, after the U21 EURO group stage. "Winning the ball back superbly. He does that really well", Younes told to the media. During the U21 competition, Philip Röber of UEFA.com, described Kimmich's playing style on the website and compared him to \u0130lkay Gündo\u011fan, but other critics compared him to retired Bayern captain Philipp Lahm.
At Leipzig, he was part of an extremely attack-minded team in which his ball-winning qualities in front of a high back four shone through. In the Germany U21 side, he has a deeper role, but he has also caught the eye as a tidy defensive midfielder. Kimmich has great timing in his tackles, can dribble and does not mind putting in the legwork.
Being comfortable in possession, Kimmich is also known for his precise passing and crossing, and is a good striker of the ball. Kimmich himself has cited Bastian Schweinsteiger, Xabi Alonso, and Xavi as some of his inspirations.<\/P>","F4645409D3EE42C9":"500","0108B3B67855A673":"332038","805ACE40479B6E763FB50E182B20A495":"1995-2-8","38882684D19FD665":"Joshua Kimmich","B6A0187759F85483BB8FCFF97E557B3EF40C5B869FAFCEA6":"1","B6A0187759F85483D714EA91FD933428":"75000000.00","7CC3966A9B90B9412F1273E902F0953F":"VfB Stuttgart,RB Leipzig,VfB Stuttgart U19,VfB Stuttgart(U17)","02EB7DF46653B329":"Joshua Kimmich","9CFA5380AB449F58B34CD68741B77812":"1","70545F9392E8422F11E2D5550E456F39":"VfB Stuttgart","781CC09C30E6A152":"1","4CC9C981935F4DF5":"Bayern Munich","784E2315886D4158FF9CFFE843FE6B59":"
CLUB<\/U><\/STRONG>
Bayern Munich<\/STRONG>
Bundesliga: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
DFB-Pokal: 2015–16, 2018–19, 2019–20
DFL-Supercup: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022
UEFA Champions League: 2019–20
UEFA Super Cup: 2020
FIFA Club World Cup: 2020
INTERNATIONAL<\/U><\/STRONG>
Germany<\/STRONG>
FIFA Confederations Cup: 2017
Germany U19<\/STRONG>
UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2014
INDIVIDUAL<\/U><\/STRONG>
UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament:
<\/STRONG>2016
UEFA Champions League Breakthrough XI:
<\/STRONG>2016
German national Player of the Year:
<\/STRONG>2017
UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season:
<\/STRONG>2017–18, 2019–20
UEFA Champions League Defender of the Season:
<\/STRONG>2019–20
UEFA Team of the Year:
<\/STRONG>2020
FIFA FIFPro World11:
<\/STRONG>2020
FIFA FIFPro World11 3rd team:
<\/STRONG>2018
FIFA FIFPro World11 nominee:
<\/STRONG>2019 (14th defender)
FIFA Club World Cup Bronze Ball:
<\/STRONG>2020
ESM Team of the Year:
<\/STRONG>2018–19
Bundesliga Team of the Season:
<\/STRONG>2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season:
<\/STRONG>2018–19, 2019–20
Bundesliga Goal of the Month:
<\/STRONG>May 2020, September 2020
IFFHS Men's World Team:
<\/STRONG>2020<\/P>","e_index":8};