Hard reality at FC Bayern
Thomas Tuchel’s desperate look at England
By Tobias Nordman
08/09/2023, 16:17
FC Bayern does not want to experience a season like the last again. In Europe it was (too) early again and the championship was only won thanks to a gift from Dortmund. The squad should be successfully rebuilt – but that doesn’t work as desired.
You get Thomas Tuchel out of the Premier League (although that was surprising), but apparently you don’t get the Premier League out of Thomas Tuchel. In search of a way to get FC Bayern competitive again so that at least the national goals are not jeopardized again, the coach looks to England. In the league that, despite the gigantic Saudi offensive, is still considered the best in the world. So not a bad idea. The problem: So far he has rigorously shrugged off his ideas.
It may be that the rumor about Mason Mount, who has meanwhile switched from Tuchel’s ex-club Chelsea to Manchester United, was still an air number. But other failed transfer projects were certainly not. Right-back Kyle Walker felt like he was already at the gates of Munich, before Manchester City spruced up his working papers so much that the romanticism of the working-class town was more appealing than the proximity to the Alpine idyll.
Tuchel is said to have even visited Declan Rice in person to warm him up for Bayern. The 24-year-old would have fulfilled the coach’s longing for a defensive six. A “Holding Six”, a patron saint before the defense. That is what Tuchel is looking for – to this day. Rice preferred Arsenal’s offer. In any case, it is questionable whether Munich would have wanted to raise the 116 million euros.
“Premier League drives us crazy”
Probably not. Transfers of this magnitude are still a crazy feat for the record champions. Best seen in the example of star striker Harry Kane, for whom there is a grueling game of poker with Tottenham’s tough boss Daniel Levy. The Bundesliga is still the land of limited opportunities, even for the local Kroesus FC Bayern. It’s not the Premier League anymore. And that doesn’t just apply to clubs from the top third. A few weeks ago, Aston Villa was able to just shake 55 million euros out of their sleeve for Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby. The TV money makes it possible. German football is left behind.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who was called back into office, had just vehemently complained about how serious the differences are now: “The Premier League is driving us crazy.” Their contracts for foreign marketing currently bring in 5.3 billion pounds for three seasons, i.e. around 2.05 billion euros per season. The Premier League collects more than ten times as much as the Bundesliga. Rummenigge’s devastating verdict: “We are in a catastrophic position in foreign TV marketing.”
FC Bayern does not want to accept this status. Kane’s desired commitment should not only be a correction of the biggest squad omission of the past summer, but above all a statement to the international competition: Look, if we want, then we can too. With the 30-year-old, the ability to be a powerful challenger again in the fight for the Champions League title should be restored. It’s a tough duel that neither Munich nor Tuchel know. Not Bayern, because they almost always got courted players from the national competition and have never dared to play such a caliber in such an overheated environment internationally.
Money was secondary at best
And not Tuchel, because he has twice experienced the boundless gigantism. At Paris St. Germain and at Chelsea. At the beginning of his time in France, he got, among other things, Kylian Mbappé (bought after a previous loan) and a total of players with a transfer fee of over 400 million euros. It was no worse in London. Storm buffalo Romelu Lukaku was the most expensive newcomer there at almost 113 million euros. And the Blues also slid 400 million euros over the counter, 80 of them for Wesley Fofana and 65 for Marc Cucurella. As a team manager, Tuchel could take care of things himself. The money was secondary at best.
He is no longer equipped with this abundance of power at FC Bayern. In the “Task Force” his word is valued and heard, but in Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge he now has two powerful cadre architects with their own view of things. See six-party debate. The planning process is still going on without dissent, they assert. Perhaps also because both the record champions and the coach have experienced both in a bitter way. In Munich, Hansi Flick broke up with ex-sports director Hasan Salihamidžić and in Paris one of the reasons for Tuchel’s exit was the dispute with sports director Leonardo.
Kane remains number one transfer target
But what happens next? Kane remains the number one transfer target, and the club’s contortions are already causing experts great concern. 100 million plus X euros for a 30-year-old? phew! But once the club is inspired by a player, it’s hard to dissuade him. That was once the case with Leroy Sané and also last summer with Sadio Mané. But while the Senegalese was above all a jewel with no clear assignment – he was not suitable as Robert Lewandowski’s heir – there is at least a defined gap for the longing player Kane. The storm center. He can do that. You know that.
The squad’s problems are far from over. The goalkeeper topic is becoming more and more urgent. Nobody knows when Manuel Neuer will return. And in what form? Even more unclear. How the keeper is really doing is guarded like a state secret. The club only made public a planned intervention and a “metal removal” on Neuer’s badly injured right leg. But the people of Munich have sold their plans B and C. Alexander Nübel has been passed on to VfB Stuttgart. Yann Sommer can find happiness at Inter Milan. And now? Of course, the focus is on England. The clubless David de Gea is said to be on the list and recently also the Spaniard Kepa Arrizabalaga, who was once worth 80 million euros to Chelsea. He is said to have been personally recommended to the “Task Force” by the Bayern coach, although he was not once the number one under Tuchel. You get Thomas Tuchel from the Premier League, but you obviously don’t get the Premier League from Thomas Tuchel.