Transfer Radar: Hiroki Itō reportedly free to leave Bayern Munich this summer

MUNICH, GERMANY - MAY 02: Hiroki Ito of München reacts during the Bundesliga match between FC Bayern München and 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 at Allianz Arena on May 02, 2026 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images) | Getty Images It has been an injury-laden tenure at Bayern Munich for Japanese defender Hiroki Itō, who has suffered multiple metatarsal issues ever since he joined from VfB Stuttgart.

He’s spent most of his time out injured after originally picking up the long-term problem in preseason ahead of the 2024/25 season and he’s not made more than 30 appearances across all competitions for the German Rekordmeister — far from what Bayern expected when the brought him in for just shy of 25 million euros. Hindsight is always 20/20, but it’s been a tough road for Itō, who was such a promising defender at Stuttgart that possesses the luxirious ability to play as either a center back or left back. Per information from tz’s Philipp Kessler and Vinzent Tschirpke (via @iMiaSanMia ), Bayern are leaving the door open to the Japanese international potentially leaving the club this summer, just two seasons after he was purchased from Stuttgart.

There would have to be a suitable offer for him to leave, though, so that Bayern could not wind up in a position where they’ve lost a great deal on their investment. Itō’s current contract with Bayern runs through June 2028 and he is currently valuated around 18 million euros after his injury plagued seasons in Munich, as per transfermarkt . The club have already made it clear that they plan on bringing in reinforcements during the summer transfer window and they might very well decide it’s time to cut their losses with him.

His market value has been on a steady decline over the course of the past two seasons that he’s primarily spent sidelined through injury and a lot of money was spent on the contract extension for fellow defender Dayot Upamecano. Max Eberl, alongside Christoph Freund, has been tasked with the difficult job of trying to reduce Bayern’s overall wage bill, which is a difficult task when balancing incoming players as well as key contract extensions, but offloading Itō for the right price could very well be something that aids those efforts. Ideally, Bayern could try to get anywhere between 20-25 million for him and reinvest that money to bring in other defensive players.