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BAYERN MUNICH

Tasci aiming to make his mark at Bayern after loan move

The defender hopes to prove Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wrong after Bayern chief said there are "no good players" on the market.

Update:
Serdar Tasci (left) in action for FC Spartak Moscow.
EpsilonGetty Images

Bayern Munich's emergency signing Serdar Tasci hopes to prove himself at the Bundesliga leaders, especially after club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge stated "there is no quality on the market" last weekend.

Bayern reinforced their injury plagued back-line before Monday's transfer market closed by taking Germany defender Tasci on a six-month loan from Spartak Moscow, after AS Roma and Schalke had also been interested in signing him as cover.

With Javi Martinez, Jerome Boateng and Medhi Benatia all out injured Bayern coach Pep Guardiola has just one fully-fit centre-back in Holger Badstuber.

Martinez underwent knee surgery in Barcelona on Tuesday, and the club has said the Spanish international will be out for three weeks, while Boateng is expected to be out for three months.

"I hope that I can help the team further," said Tasci after completing his medical check and has a 10 million euro buy-option built into his Bayern contract.

"Bayern has big goals. This year, there are three titles to win and I hope I can help the team, with my quality, so that we can lift these titles."

Tasci has much to prove at Bayern after Rummenigge told reporters on Sunday: "There is no quality on the market, there are no good players" before Tasci signed and the comment can hardly have filled the club's latest recruit with confidence.

Tasci admits he is lacking match practise, with the Russian league currently still on its winter break, but arrived on the back of a ten-day training camp in Abu Dhabi.

"I feel very good. If I have a good week of training, I'll be in top shape," he said.

The 28-year-old meets Bayern's criteria.

He is not cup tied for the Champions League, knows the Bundesliga, having won the 2007 German league title with VfB Stuttgart, and has international experience, having won the last of his 14 Germany caps in August 2010.

And a return to the Bundesliga will also put him back on the radar of Germany's head coach Joachim Loew, following a five-year absence, with the European Championships now five months away.

"I'm too young to write off my chances with the national team," he told Sport Bild recently having been part of the Germany squad at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Tasci has been at Spartak since 2013, starting 16 of their 18 leagues fixtures so far this season, and as he is under contract until June 2017 they took a 2.5 million euros ($2.8 million) fee for his loan.