When Niklas Süle announced his retirement, there was a lot of discussion about his time at Bayern Munich, but the tall defender revealed a little secret during the "Spielmacher" podcast when he made the official announcement.
Süle showed how he "passed" the mandatory weigh-ins at Bayern, although not necessarily in the best way.
“Jupp Heynckes was an incredible mentor for me. I played under him, but he also dealt with the weight issue. We had mandatory weigh-ins at Bayern on Thursdays. I didn’t eat anything on Wednesday, I fasted all day. And every evening at home I went to the sauna – wearing a raincoat,” Süle said (as reported by “iMiaSanMia”).
"The next day, I weighed two and a half kilograms less. This is extreme. The sauna was in the basement. After a day without food and in the sauna with a raincoat, I had to climb three flights of stairs to the bedroom. I would open the window, lean out and breathe for ten minutes because I thought I was going to pass out," he added.
“Then I played at the weekend, we won and Heynckes said to me: ‘See? You’re playing much better now.’ But the reality is that my weight was exactly the same as before.”
Süle was practically doing a kind of “weight cut” like boxers or MMA fighters do every week. By the time of the fight, he was already back to his pre-team weigh-in weight.
This strategy was crazy and definitely not a good idea, but there was always a big focus on his weight and physical shape throughout his career.
At his best, Süle was a dynamic presence in defence, with his length, speed (yes, he was fast) and skill making him one of the most physically imposing defenders when playing as a right-back.
As a center back, he was a ball-clearer, strong against big attackers and quick enough to frustrate them with his pace.
At times he was exceptional, but there was always the "shadow" of concerns about his physical form.
Some players can simply play regardless of their weight. Was Süle one of them? Or would he have reached even higher levels in his career with more focus on health?
Either way, he has always been a very interesting player to watch at Bayern Munich./Express newspaper/
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