Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting's form has saved Bayern Munich this season
Before the 2022-23 season, the most goals Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting had scored in a single season was 11, all the way back in the 2013-14 season when playing for Mainz 05. The Cameroon international had never come close to matching that tally since, despite playing for clubs of the caliber of Schalke, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich since 2020.
Since joining the dominant German champions, Choupo-Moting had firmly settled into the role of back-up striker, such were the astonishing performance levels of Robert Lewandowski.
In his first season at Bayern Munich, Choupo-Moting played just 1,313 minutes across all competitions, scoring nine goals and claiming just a solitary assist. The following season, under the management of the newly installed Julian Nagelsmann, Choupo-Moting would get even less playing time, just 499 minutes.
There were some contributing factors to that, other than simply the form of Lewandowski. He struggled with injury and COVID-19 aswell as featuring in the Africa Cup of Nations for Cameroon.
Despite Choupo-Moting's limited involvement, his impact when he did play was evident, scoring nine goals and claiming five assists. He averaged a goal involvement every 35 minutes.
Choupo-Moting finally comes to the party at Bayern Munich
Into his third season with the club, Lewandowski was sold to Barcelona with just a year remaining on his contract. Rather than sign a direct replacement, Bayern and Nagelsmann opted to go with a more fluid attack, instead signing versatile forward Sadio Mane from Liverpool.
Initially, there seemed to be little prospect of increased playing time for Choupo-Moting. He missed the first six league games of the season before coming off the bench and having a limited impact in the next four.
However, by this stage of the season it was clear that Bayern Munich were struggling. After winning their opening three league games, they drew four, lost one and won one of the next six.
The forward then found himself named in the starting XI for the first time this season against Freiburg in mid-October and hasn't looked back since then. He scored and gave an assist in a 5-0 victory over Freiburg and has been named in the starting lineup by Nagelsmann in every match since then.
Bayern have won all six league matches in that time, rising back to the top of the Bundesliga with the Cameroonian scoring six league goals and adding two assists. He also scored two goals and added another assist in the German Cup second round.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has gone from the butt of most jokes in Munich to Julian Nagelsmann's saviour in attack 👏
In this week's newsletter, @ManuelVeth takes a look at what has changed for the senior striker and Bayern Munich's tactics this season.
While it hasn't just been domestically where Choupo-Moting has thrived, he has also scored three goals in four appearances in the UEFA Champions League. Bayern eased through a tricky qualifying group which included Barcelona and Inter Milan.
In all competitions, he has already played 850 minutes of action, scoring 11 goals and claiming three assists with a goal involvement every 60 minutes.
This was a season where Bayern Munich fans wondered how their attack would fare following the loss of Lewandowski. However, thanks largely to the role played by Choupo-Moting, the loss of the Polish striker hasn't been felt too keenly.
The emergence of Jamal Musiala has also helped to plug the gap. Bayern supporters are now seeing a more flexible and agile forward line that is averaging a remarkable 3.26 league goals per game.
What is clear though is that the 33-year-old's form has been a key factor in the remarkable turnaround experienced by Bayern Munich after a difficult start to the season. If he can maintain his form for the rest of the season, the Cameroon international will be hopeful of adding more trophies to his increasingly impressive collection. For now, he continues to enjoy a remarkable end to his career.