Can Bayern Munich move push CanWNT centre back Vanessa Gilles to the next level?

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When the 2025-2026 European season kicks off, Vanessa Gilles will have a new home, as the CanWNT defender joined Bayern Munich on a three-year deal earlier this summer. 

After three seasons on loan with Lyonnes, the 29-year-old defender has finally made a permanent move, joining Bayern on a transfer from NWSL side Angel City. After joining Angel City in 2022, making 13 appearances with the then-expansion club in their first season (scoring their first-ever NWSL regular season goal), she first moved to Lyonnes on a one-year loan in the fall of 2022, before extending her loan to the club on two further occasions. 

Now, however, she’ll have a bit more stability surrounding her future, as she penned a three-year deal with Bayern, signing a contract through the end of the 2027-2028 season, as she seemed unlikely to return to Angel City after not featuring with them since that 2022 campaign. 

This move comes at a perfect time for Gilles, too, who turned 29 this season, leaving her in the middle of her prime as a defender. Having established herself as one of the best centre backs in the world at Lyonnes, where she made 80 appearances for the club, scoring 20 goals and adding seven assists, she’ll get the chance to spark a bit of a new era at her new club.

Gone are the days of Wolfsburg’s domination in the Frauen Bundesliga, as Bayern have won four of the last five German league titles, including three straight, after winning just two titles before the start of this decade. 

Because of that, Bayern now sit just one behind Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt for all-time Bundesliga titles with six, as they look to match the seven those respective clubs have as soon as this year.  

Of course, while Bayern would be more than happy to tie or surpass those Bundesliga title records during Gilles’s contract, they have one big long-term goal - winning the Champions League for the first time. An honour Frankfurt have earned four times and Wolfsburg twice, Bayern’s only come closest to winning in 2018-2019 and 2020-2021, when they reached the semi-finals. 

In particular, the last few years have been tough sledding in that quest, as they’ve fallen in the quarter-finals in three of the last four editions, and got grouped the other year. Granted, it’s been a tough run for German teams, period, who haven’t won since 2015, after initially winning nine of the 14 first Champions Leagues. Wolfsburg have come closest to busting that slump, losing in the 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2023 finals, but Bayern will feel they can translate their recent league success into some better performances in Europe, perhaps starting with a first qualification for a final. 

That’s where someone like Gilles can be so key, however, as she brings 30 games worth of Champions League from her time with Lyon and old club Bordeaux, scoring nine goals in those 30 appearances.

Plus, she’ll also have a similar hunger to lift the trophy after coming closest to doing so in 2024, when Lyonnes fell 2-0 to Barcelona in the 2023-2024 final, with the winning goal deflecting off Gilles’s foot and in on an unlucky sequence. 

Given that Gilles usually seems to raise her level for the biggest of matches, be it for club or country, she’ll certainly be looking forward to her first Champions League night in Munich, as she looks to avenge that 2024 loss and spark Bayern to their first European crown. 

Returning to Gilles’s performances, however, what should Bayern expect from their new Canadian defender?

Here's Gilles's numbers in league play with Lyonnes in 2024-2025, per WyScout. As seen here, she was dominant in the air, but also very good on the ball - and this doesn't include any of her goalscoring numbers. 

For what it’s worth, she’ll expect to be a leader at the back for new coach José Barcala, who worked with Gilles at Bordeaux, so she’ll likely slot into the heart of his back four from day one, but what will she bring to her new side?  

Naturally, the big one is her prowess in the air, which remains her most impressive skill. Nicknamed the ‘magnet’, Gilles won a whopping 82.8% of her aerial duels in French league action and 74.1% of her duels in the Champions League in 2024-2025 per FBRef, as she’s not one to lose many duels in the air, if at all. 

Of course, that brings a lot of value to her team defensively, but also on attacking set-pieces, hence her high rate of goals with Lyon - she had 20 goals in 80 appearances, an average of a goal every four games, including a nine-goal season in 2024-2025, which is absurd for a central defender. 

🎯 Central defender Vanessa Gilles on the mark for Lyon a 5th time this league campaign!

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To be fair, that’s been a skill she’s carried for most of her career, dating back to her time with Bordeaux. What was fascinating about her move to Lyonnes was that she got to harness those aerial skills while often featuring alongside one of the best aerial presences in the women’s game, Wendie Renard, (which helped her become even more of a goalscoring threat), but Gilles had to adapt her game in other ways to play at that highest level, too. 

That’s reflected in some of her other numbers from 2024-2025 (via WyScout), as she attempted over 63 passes per 90 minutes across all competitions, completing 90.6% of them. By comparison, during her first season at Lyonnes in 2022-2023, she attempted just 50 passes per 90 minutes, although she did complete 88.7% of them. 

What’s changed, however, has been her pass selection, which showcases her growth in that area. In 2022-2023, she averaged 6.17 long balls per 90 minutes (at a 62.8% completion rate), 7.9 passes into the final third (at a 73.5% completion rate), and 24.37 forward passes (at an 82.8% completion rate) - in 2024-2025, she averaged fewer long balls at 5.62 (completing 60.8% of them), but had 9.48 passes into the final third (at a 77.1% rate) and 26.89 forward passes (at a 83.1% rate), showing that she was more adventurous on the ball. 

Yet, that sums up her work on the ball - she’s not going to do anything wild, as she attempts 0.27 dribbles every 90 minutes and less than a progressive run per game, but she’ll get on the ball and spray it to her teammates. 

Then, from there, she’ll shift her focus to her work defensively, which remains the key part of her game. Despite being on a Lyonnes team that dominates the ball in a lot of their matches, Gilles had 4.06 interceptions, 11.89 recoveries and 2.61 clearances, while also contesting 11.11 duels (at a 70.1% win rate), including 4.74 defensive duels (at a 78.6% win rate). 

The low numbers of duels Gilles contested show the effect of Lyonnes’ dominance, but it’s important to see that she still won most of her duels despite that. You add in the solid number of interceptions and high recovery numbers, and that’s key, as those skills indicate good anticipation and awareness for a centre back, showing that she’s defending in other ways than just flying into aerial and ground duels.

Here's Gilles's 2024-2025 numbers against Champions League opposition, courtesy of FBRef, showing that she was still dominant in the air, as well as strong both on the ball and defensively, even when faced off against top teams. 

What this shows, however, is that Bayern are getting a defender who has shown that she’s capable of playing at the highest level, while able to fulfill the demands placed on the modern defender. She might never be truly as comfortable in possession as some ball-playing centre backs, given that she’s a late bloomer who picked up the sport quite late, but she’s more than confident and can hold her own. 

Then, what she might lack in that area, she makes up for with her defensive work, which is elite, while chipping in a decent number of goals for good measure. On top of that, despite having the size to dominate her duels, she also has the speed and intelligence to handle dangerous attackers, even if her team asks her to play in a higher defensive line, so Bayern can be confident that she’ll adapt to whatever defensive system their new coach chooses to employ - she can sit back in a low block or step aggressively in a high line. 

Plus, she still has growth to come in her game, too, given her status as a late bloomer. That’s why this Bayern move could be quite interesting, as she’s spent most of her career in France, other than that half-season stint in the US, so a move to Germany could push her to further adapt her style of play as she adapts to a different league. 

Because of that, keep an eye on her as she embarks on her Bayern career. If all goes right, she’s proven that she’s among the best centre backs in the world, one who could be in discussions for awards such as the World XI going forward, for example - that was the level she hit at Lyonnes, at least. 

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With Lyonnes, however, she was usually seen as the second name supporting someone like Renard. Now, at Bayern, she’ll likely assume a leadership role and be their main name at the back, which will help further prove that she belongs in those discussions. 

That’s huge for Canada, as she’s become one of their most important players over the last few years, with her play at last year’s Olympics arguably the best example of what that can look like, as she combined her strong defensive play with some timely goals in an incredible four-game run that saw her step up as a Canadian hero, showing that she can be the main name at the back for a team, when needed. 

GILLES IN STOPPAGE TIME 🇨🇦

Vanessa Gilles scores in stoppage time to keep the defending Olympic champions' hopes alive at #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/faauylSG0S

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) July 28, 2024

At her age, she’ll have a big role to play in Canada’s 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympics journey, and probably more after that, although those first two tournaments will be her immediate focus, especially given that she’ll be in her prime for both. 

With the recovery of Kadeisha Buchanan from a long-term injury, and Jade Rose’s integration to life as a professional with Manchester City, Gilles will need to keep being the main name for Casey Stoney to rely on in the short term, and of course, remains a key pillar in the long term. 

Before she looks ahead to those major tournaments that await her with Canada, however, it’ll be fascinating to see her tackle the start of her stint at Bayern Munich, as this has the potential to be a big move for the Canadian centre back, as seen above. 

After a big window for Bayern, who have also brought in midfielder Arianna Caruso for a fee from Juventus, along with five other signings (who carry an average age of around 26), they want to have a big 2025-2026 campaign, and Gilles will be expected to play a big role in that. 

Because of that, look for Gilles to use this move to prove she is a truly world-class defender, as she has every potential to hit that level regularly for Bayern throughout this contract, after showing glimpses of that level while with Lyonnes.