Kingsley Coman is where he feels comfortable once more. Not as the seven-time Bundesliga champion, nor the Champions League winner.
Rather, as just Kingsley. The 26-year-old Frenchman who can live authentically in the United States.
He loves the beach, Miami’s warm water and ‘vibes’, his family and existing with little fanfare.
During his three-week vacation this summer, the Bayern star traded Munich for Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and the Bahamas – sampling the nightlife, beaches and an ability to live relatively anonymous – trading 10,000 photos for 10.
Kingsley Coman’s favorite vacation spot is the US, allowing him to exist semi-anonymously
Coman, a 2020 Champions League winner with Bayern Munich, is getting set for a new season
Coman has been playing for Bayern in the United States on preseason friendly games
‘There are things that I can do here that I cannot do in Europe,’ Coman exclusively told Dailymail.com from the Ritz-Carlton in Washington DC.
‘I can go to clubs and not worry about someone taking a picture of me with a glass of champagne. I mean, when you’re on holiday you can, but it’s always better when it can stay private.
‘You can just enjoy your time with your friends or wife, be out and do regular people stuff. You don’t need to try and hide. You can just live, not without boundaries, but kind of.’
As Bayern Munich ready for an assault on the German Super Cup, Bundesliga and Champions League, Coman knows all eyes will be on the Bavarians as they look to improve on their shock quarter-final loss to Villarreal.
With more titles in his sights, Coman is determined to take his game to greater heights.
‘I think I am a big, big player in my position, I play the football that I like. I really think I have arrived at the point where I want it and now I just want to go to the next step.’
‘I think to say that I am really complete because, as I always say, for me scoring is not the most important and I think I bring a lot for the team.
‘But if I can be as [energized] as I am in the beginning of the action at the end, then it’s perfect.
Sadio Mane (left) has been a key signing and joins forces with Coman (second right) at Bayern
The burden to bring Bayern to their seventh Champions League won’t rest solely on Coman
‘You don’t have a lot of players that, even in history, could start the action, do all the passes and also be at the end. This is the goal that I am aiming for.’
The burden to bring Bayern to their seventh Champions League won’t rest solely on Coman’s shoulders, with summer signing Sadio Mane set to spearhead Bayern’s foray into a second season with manager Julian Nagelsmann.
The Senegalese is being touted to play through the middle, as he did for the Reds in the run-in to their quadruple chase.
Coman, meanwhile can play on the left or right wing, is ecstatic to have another serial winner added to Bayern’s ranks.
‘I think it’s really amazing. I’m a competitor and I really want us to have the best team possible,’ he said.
‘He’s one of the best in our position, in my position as a winger or a striker. Playing with this kind of player you can improve a lot, they can teach you a lot. I definitely know we can all grow together as people and as a team as well.
Coman and Mane both arrived for preseason on the same day and have already started to build a relationship, with the Bayern statesman explaining complicated drills in French – the native language of Mane’s Senegal.
‘I aim to also be one of the best, so he’s definitely someone I am looking to, but also to help him at the same time because I want him to be in the best condition to help the team.
Mane made an immediate impression, scoring just minutes into his debut vs. DC United
‘I know that when you just arrive to the team, it doesn’t matter how big you are, you need to settle and this is always easier when people help you.’
Coman is yet to learn much from Mane during their first weeks together but looks forward to the pair filling the void left by star striker Robert Lewandowski, who departed Munich for Barcelona last week.
‘We all have to score more definitely,’ Coman said following Lewandowski’s exit. ‘I don’t think there is a striker that can score as much as Lewy.
‘He was the best striker for a couple of years, but if we all score five-10 goals more at the end it will be the same.’
Bayern will miss the endless goals supplied by Barcelona’s new striker Robert Lewandowski
There has been much speculation as to the newfound flexibility Bayern will have without the Polish spearhead up front, though Coman has called for caution, particularly during the embryonic stages of the imminent campaign.
‘We need a couple of games and a couple of months. At the beginning of the [last] season we were amazing and when it was the most important, we were less good.
‘I know the season is up and down but in general when we change formation, everything’s always hard at the beginning.
‘But once you get what the coach wants then, of course, it will be good because we have the players to be amazing.’
Coman and Lewandowski struck up a formidable partnership during their time in Bavaria
Before Bayern can clinch honors in Germany and abroad, Coman will depart for Qatar in late November as France look to defend the World Cup.
The Bayern winger cruelly missed out on his nation’s triumph in Russia due to a severe ankle injury months prior.
Coman did play during France’s failed Euro 2020 campaign and despite the last-16 loss to Switzerland, the French feel more confident now than pre-Russia.
However, recent results have been anything but assured. Didier Deschamps’ men are winless in their last four Nations League matches, including two losses to Denmark and Croatia at the Parc De Princes.
Coman faces a season with immense expectation both on the continent and at the World Cup
Though nothing seems to be slowing down the French fortitude ahead of their opener against Australia on November 22.
‘There’s more confidence but after what happened in the Euros we know that it’s really not easy,’ Coman, who has 27 trophies under his belt, said.
‘We can be a big team, a good team and lose to teams that are supposed to be less good. This didn’t bring our confidence down but it made us understand more that nothing is done before you do it.
‘We will be really hungry again because to lose like we did in the Euros is not enough for us. So we kind of feel like we need to do something big.’
Given his illustrious career so far you wouldn’t put it past Coman to add another haul to his already expansive collection.
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