Bayern Munich sign Thiago Alcantara to contract through 2019

Thiago Alcantara has signed a new contract to keep him at Bayern Munich until 2019, the club have announced.

The 24-year-old was the first player Pep Guardiola wanted to sign when he took charge of the club two seasons ago, and he has made 41 appearances in all competitions for the Bavarians in two injury-hit seasons.

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Despite missing over a year with a knee injury, he has still shown exactly why Guardiola was so desperate to sign him from Barcelona, and he has now earned a two-year extension to his previous deal.

“We are pleased that Thiago has decided to remain at Bayern in the long term,” said Bayern’s chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge on the Bundesliga club’s website.

“He is young and he is an important player for the future of this club.”

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Thiago has played a part in both of Bayern’s first two Bundesliga games of the season, despite Guardiola’s prediction that he would need a few months of the season before being fully fit again after a knee injury which ruled him out over a year until April.