Friday June 11th 2021
No more big transfers
FC Bayern dictates thriftiness
Coach Nagelsmann and defender Upamecano are the expensive newcomers to FC Bayern this summer. It will take until the start of the season, but there will be no more large purchases, says club boss Hainer. The reason for this does not only concern the German record champions.
After signing Dayot Upamecano, FC Bayern are no longer planning any costly new signings for the new season. “People should not underestimate the effects of Corona, even if we have made ends meet comparatively well so far, there will be considerable sanding marks here. With the exception of Dayot Upamecano, no major transfers are possible with us this summer”, said President Herbert Hainer according to a club interview.
In the spring, Hainer had put the slump in sales at the German soccer record champions at an estimated 150 million euros. The club now seems to have to take the associated shortfall in income into account by heavily regulating the transfer budget for Julian Nagelsmann. The new coach himself comes from RB Leipzig for an estimated 25 million euros, from where Upamecano is also moving to Munich, for whose services a transfer fee of 42.5 million euros is due. The duo has already cost more than 65 million euros in total. Since these expensive additions have not yet been matched by corresponding sales, even if there are several change candidates, especially Corentin Tolisso, the transfer fund is scarce.
With David Alaba (for Real Madrid), Javi Martínez (goal open) and Jérôme Boateng (should be a candidate for Juventus Turin) three players leave the club, who have played an essential part in the fact that there are nine championship titles in the past nine years and two Champions League victories. All three will go free of charge after the end of the contract. Upamecano is considered highly talented, but at the age of 22 has no experience at the top European level and was recently not nominated for the European Championship by France’s national coach Didier Deschamps.
“We still signed Omar Richards, and seven players are returning who were on loan. The aim is to strengthen the squad across the board. However, the quality is so high that we don’t need any more top transfers. The mix is right “said Hainer. Richards is a free transfer from the English second division FC Reading. Nagelsmann is threatening a perspective that previously seemed to unnerve the future national coach Hansi Flick. He had repeatedly asked for newcomers to improve the breadth of the squad, but did not get them. Marc Roca, Bouna Sarr and Douglas Costa, who signed on shortly before the end of the transfer in autumn 2020, all fell short of expectations.
However, Hainer assumes that not only FC Bayern will have to draw such conclusions from the financial losses. The consequences of the corona pandemic and the resulting loss of income for professional football will be felt “for a very long time, throughout football”. “So far we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg, and that won’t be made up in twelve months. When I hear some transfer rumors and sums again, I seriously wonder how the clubs want to finance that, especially since there are so many are burdened by high mountains of debt, “said the 66-year-old.
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