Rejecting offers from elite clubs in England and Spain, Canada captain Alphonso Davies has signed a new deal that will keep him at Bayern Munich through June 30, 2030.
Nick Huoseh, Davies' longtime adviser, said the 24-year-old from Edmonton looked at the alternatives and decided he had a good thing with Bayern.
"For him, it's easy to move to other clubs. But does it always work out? Not always … He thought 'You know what? I'm enjoying it here. I'm really liking the coach. A great group of players. The club's been good. The medical team's been amazing,'" said Huoseh.
"There were a lot of factors," he added.
Satisfaction at life under manager Vincent Kompany and the financial terms offered were two major factors in Davies' decision to remain with the German powerhouse.
Huoseh said Davies — currently sidelined by a muscle strain in his left hamstring — has flourished under Kompany, who was appointed Bayern boss last May.
"He's playing great football right now. His stats are very, very good. And the system they're playing, the way they're playing, he's been rejuvenated," Huoseh said from Munich. "It was a little bit more challenging with the previous managers, the two previous ones (Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann)."
"The system changed under the last two coaches — great coaches, but they didn't utilize him in that same similar way," he added.
They wanted a more defensive game from Davies, who likes to use his electric pace to attack from left back.
Kompany has involved Davies more in the attack. "That was a big point," Huoseh said.
Davies' existing contract with the German powerhouse was to expire June 30, prompting transfer talk with the likes of Spanish giant Real Madrid as negotiations with Bayern dragged on.
Huoseh said talks mainly centred on four or five other clubs in Spain and England.
"Come January we had discussions with other teams that had reached out and had shown a lot of interest," Huoseh said. "There was only a handful of clubs. It's not like there were 20, 30 clubs because realistically he's already playing for (one of the) probably top-three or four biggest clubs in the world. So there's only a handful he can go to."
On Tuesday, Bayern ended the chit-chat.
“Alphonso Davies has become one of the best players in the world in his position at Bayern and has attracted a lot of interest," Bayern sporting director Christopher Freund said in a statement. "The fact he wants to continue here with us shows Bayern’s status in international football and that Alphonso has found his sporting home in Munich.”
Davies said he was very happy to extend his stay 'at this great club."
"I came to FC Bayern when I was 18 and just wanted to learn as much as possible every day to become one of the best in my position. Now I'm looking forward to another five years together," he said in a statement. "I’ve already achieved a lot here, but there’s more to come.”
Huoseh said the two sides had a contract agreement back in May 2023 only to see a turnover in the Bayern management team. When talks resumed, the club had a "different direction" when it came to contracts, Huoseh said.
But they eventually concluded a deal that worked for both.
Davies is "definitely comfortable" with the terms of the new deal, Huoseh said.
"It took a little bit of time to get to these terms. But Bayern Munich stepped up to the plate and recognized his worth. It's not easy to find his profile. I'm not sure how many (comparable) players are out there but a replacement would be very costly."
The terms of the deal were not released by the club or the player.
Davies agreed to join Bayern for an MLS record fee in July 2018, finishing out the season with the Vancouver Whitecaps before making the move.
Davies has already filled his trophy case at Bayern. He has won five Bundesliga titles (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023), two DFB Cups (2019, 2020), the UEFA Champions League 2020, UEFA Super Cup (2020), DFL Supercup (2020, 2021 and 2022) and FIFA Club World Cup 2020.
He has appeared in 220 games for Bayern across all competitions with 12 goals and 32 assists.
Davies has been named Canada Soccer Player of the Year four times (2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022) and CONCACAF Player of the Year twice (2021 and 2022),
He has won 56 caps for Canada with 16 goals and was a member of Canada's team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where he scored Canada's first-ever goal at the men's soccer showcase in a 4-1 loss to Croatia.
Born in a refugee camp in Ghana to parents who had fled the civil war in Liberia, Davies came to Canada when he was five. And he turned heads playing soccer in Edmonton.
In July 2016, a 15-year-old Davies signed a homegrown player contract with the Whitecaps, becoming the third-youngest in history to sign an MLS deal. Two years later, the Whitecaps agreed to sell Davies to Bayern Munich in a then-record MLS deal, worth possibly in excess of US$22 million.
Davies made his German league debut in January 2019, coming on as a late substitute in his team's 4-1 win at home to VfB Stuttgart, and was named Bundesliga Rookie of the Season for 2019-20.
His speed down the flank soon had teammates comparing him to a cartoon character.
The left back was clocked at 35.3 km/h in a 2020 win over Borussia Dortmund.
"Alphonso is a player with a lot of heart and a lot of power, with extreme power," Bayern forward Thomas Muller said at the time. "Sometimes maybe he is not in the best position on the field, but he gets the opponent thinking, 'Oh, I have time, I have time,' and then, 'Meep, meep. Meep, meep.' The Road Runner, the FC Bayern Road Runner, comes and steals the ball."
Davies was just 16 when he made his senior debut for Canada in June 2017 against Curaçao, becoming the youngest men's player in Canadian team history. He had obtained his Canadian citizenship the week before.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2025.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
