Bayern Munich record signing Lucas Hernandez

Bayern Munich record signing Lucas Hernandez is still working on his recovery from a knee operation but hopes to be fit for the new season.

The French World Cup winner, whose 80 million euros ($90.5 million) transfer from Atletico Madrid makes him the Bundesliga’s most expensive player, tells the club website, “I’m taking it step by step and improving every day.”

Hernandez hasn’t played since undergoing an operation on March 29 to repair the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Bayern had already agreed to pay the 23-year-old defender’s buy-out clause to sign him from Atletico.

Bayern doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt said at the time that the operation conducted by doctor Christian Fink in Innsbruck, Austria “went perfectly.” Hernandez has been working on his return since then under Bayern’s supervision.

Hernandez has been allocated the No. 21 jersey previously worn by Philipp Lahm. Fellow World Cup winner Benjamin Pavard, who is arriving from Stuttgart, was allocated the No. 5 vacated by Mats Hummels, who has returned to Borussia Dortmund, and former Hamburger SV forward Fiete Arp is getting the No. 15.