Kirchhoff relishing Bayern challenge

New Bayern Munich signing Jan Kirchhoff is excited by the challenge ahead of him at the Allianz Arena after completing his move from Mainz.

The central defender agreed a deal with the Bundesliga champions in January and moves on a free transfer to Munich to provide competition for places for Dante and Jerome Boateng in defence.

He joins the club as they begin life under new manager Pep Guardiola, and Kirchhoff, who has represented Germany at all youth levels, is looking forward to getting started.

“I’m incredibly excited,” he told the club’s official website. “Simply getting to know Pep Guardiola will be an honour, and it’ll be an even greater honour to work for him. I’m sure training will be outstanding.

“I’m so looking forward to this unbelievable challenge here at FC Bayern.

“The whole package was perfect in every respect. I knew at once it’s where I wanted to go. This is just right for me. I can identify with everything I’ve heard and I’ll be happy here. So the decision to come to Bayern didn’t take long.

“I’m convinced I can hold my own here.”

Although the move to the reigning champions is a big step for the 22-year-old he is confident that he can make the step up and has already begun adapting to life in his new home.

“To be frank, I’m already fallen in love with the city,” he continued. “It’s all come together, and I have to say I’m totally bowled over by my first few days here at the club.

“I’m trying to gradually build up my rhythm. I’ve been working on stamina and stabilisation, and now we’re moving to acceleration and pace. I’m ready to go.”

Kirchhoff made 18 appearances for Mainz last season as they finished 13th in the league and the young defender admitted that it was hard to leave the comfort zone he had at Coface Arena.

“You have to get over a lot of things, leaving the environment you know and your best friends,” he added. “It was hard, but I’ve been thinking about the decision for a long time.

“I was geared up for saying farewell to Mainz. It was time I faced a new challenge and took the next step. I wanted to leave my comfort zone in Mainz.”