The transfer window is closed: unlike the top international clubs, there is little excitement in the Bundesliga. Sure, someone always chases Erling Haaland, he stays in Dortmund. Robert Lewandowski at Bayern. New stars do not come, also because the league has “little money”.
“We have very little money,” said sports director Hasan Salihamidžić at Sky when he was asked about the latest transfer rumors before the 5-0 win. No, he didn’t say it, he mumbled it at the end of a sentence. And yet he spoke for large parts of the Bundesliga. Coal is no longer there. Even though. If you take a closer look. A little was already there, but not so much anymore. The big transfers took place in other leagues this summer. Jack Grealish, who moved to Manchester City from Aston Villa, set the record with 117 million euros. For just a few euros less, for 115 million euros, Romelu Lukaku returned from Italy to Champions League winners Chelsea. The two protagonists of the game of the last decade, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, changed clubs more and less voluntarily and with a loud roar, but things remained calm in the Bundesliga.
Also at Bayern Munich, who used an old tactic and bought from rivals. This time near Leipzig. Which caused a stir, but also a shrug. The competition in the Bundesliga has long since ceased after nine Bayern championships in a row. So the motto was: Browse a little with the vice-champions, bring back an old player, Sven Ulreich, and sign another talent from the second English league in Omar Richards. That was it. More was not possible. Because: “We have very little money.”
A quiet summer for Munich, who will have to further reorganize their squad in the coming years. Steer with Robert Lewandowski, who is always toying with his farewell and yet is never allowed to leave, Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer three pillars of the last decade towards the end of their careers. But this year, in which the club expects a corona-related drop in sales of 150 million euros, the renovation was not yet an issue, although the transfer expenses, including Nagelsmann, can be estimated at around 80 million. With no significant income. That will have to change. Like Bayern’s strange situation in the league, which they have long escaped, but from which they do not want to leave for the time being. And which, with its restrictions such as 50 + 1, could move it a bit away from the top in Europe. A balancing act for the new management under Oliver Kahn, who should lead the association into this uncertain future.
Risky bath with “greedy piranhas”
An uncertain future and “little coal”, but it was not possible without large numbers. Joshua Kimmich’s contract extension doubled his gross salary from 10 million to 20 million euros per year. He should earn more than any other German professional except Toni Kroos, who has been part of Real Madrid’s inventory for years. While the eyes are on Bavaria’s destruction of the people of Leipzig, the real revolution took place in those conversations between Bavaria and Kimmich. He had done without an advisor and sat down alone at the table. There he negotiated the contract that catapulted him into the ranks of top earners – and made the national player the logical new Bayern captain. The club later spoke of an important signal. It was.
Internally to Leon Goretzka, who entered the last year of his contract. But maybe also to the advisory guild. Bayern have been in a clinch with them not only since the Uli Hoeneß excitement about the “greedy piranha” Pini Zahavi. Zahavi had brought David Alaba to Real Madrid on a free transfer and the former president didn’t like it at all. The agents, it is often heard from Bayern, are drawing too much money from the system. I can do without them. In England there is great astonishment: Will Bayern always act without an adviser in the future? Also with the inclusion of players? Is the Kimmich contract extension part of a production? Someone who knows the scene well asks: “How do Bayern plan to handle major transfers to the club in the future? And who should help them get unwanted players on board?”
Gloomy prospects for Dortmund’s defense
The Bayern rival Borussia Dortmund, who traditionally worked with consultants, also with the bird of paradise Mino Raiola, had no answer to the last question. At the end of this transfer period, the second lighthouse in the league will remain sitting on a few slow moving. In the lead, of course, the 30-year-old keeper Roman Bürki, whose time in the goal of the black and yellow has expired. But little pulls him away from the Ruhr metropolis. He should earn five million euros a year. And see yourself at a sporty, attractive club. So there is no club like FC Basel that only competes in the new UEFA Conference League.
That’s why three Swiss goalkeepers are under contract at the end of the transfer period. Only the order has changed. The new regular goalkeeper is 23-year-old Gregor Kobel, signed by VfB Stuttgart for a slim 15 million euros and despite already conceding six league goals, a reinforcement for the rather mediocre position under Bürki at BVB. With the defender Marin Pongracic hired by the Mittelland Canal, Borussia succeeded in strengthening the largest squad construction site on the last day. In Wolfsburg, the Croatian tumbled down the hierarchy last season after a corona infection and was only in fourth place at the beginning of this season. “A young central defender with speed, who completes our defensive”, commented BVB sporting director Michael Zorc succinctly and certainly also more factually than it was in the previous games in the Dortmund back team.
The prospects remain bleak for the time being. As a right-back, Felix Passlack failed to prove his qualification for the Bundesliga, and Belgian international Thomas Meunier was also unable to convince last season. The large central defense around Mats Hummels and Manuel Akanji currently spends more time in rehab facilities than on the pitch. On the left, Nico Schulz is at a solid Bundesliga level.
The parrot on Zorc’s shoulder
In his last summer as the person in charge of the transfer, Michael Zorc was at least able to prevent Erling Haaland from leaving. For the Norwegian, the super transfers would certainly have found a buyer this summer. But his future has only just begun and so he can still work on his arts for a year in the Bundesliga, which is currently somewhat falling in international comparison, before he will carry them out into the world in 2022. For less money then, but possibly after he shot BVB into the Champions League. That’s why he’s employed in Dortmund and that’s why the slowly returning audience in the Westfalenstadion celebrates him with brutal awe.
“I assume that we will be confronted with wild rumors for two more days,” said Zorc shortly before the end of the window. “Our position is clear, I don’t have to play the parrot all the time.” Of course he did anyway. Like for over three months when he would pull out the babbling bird whenever he was particularly annoyed. “I feel like the friendly parrot from Dortmund,” he rebuked a researching Sky presenter in May. Of course, he wanted to know whether Haaland would stay or not. “I have said everywhere that we will continue to plan with him.” Had to repeat Zorc, who is not a parrot, even more often. True and not here we go, as the transfer specialists like to say these days.
BVB still took money, which is what they needed after the corona losses. For 85 million euros, Jadon Sancho moved to Manchester United while the EM was still running. In Dortmund they needed planning security. With Donyell Malen came a final player from PSV Eindhoven who will need time despite his 30 million euros. BVB is also heading for another transition season under coach Marco Rose, which could be followed by the next after Haaland’s departure in the 2022/2023 season. And the marmot greets you every day.
Leipzig in upheaval
Vice-champions Leipzig lost two players, a coach and his staff to FC Bayern Munich, whose officials are now faced with an old accusation again. They purposefully buy their competitors broken. But within the scope of their possibilities they had already prepared themselves for all scenarios.
The Hungarian Dominik Szoboszlai, already committed in January as an advance, including as an entry and coach Julian Nagelsmann as an exit, their transfer balance is just positive with expenses of 124 million euros, the absolute record of all Bundesliga clubs, and income of around 130 million euros. Barcelona launched another attack on Dani Olmo late on Tuesday. But even the alleged offer of 75 million euros was of little use to the Catalans. The Spanish international will stay in Saxony for the time being. But whether the newly formed team with a new coach, the American Jesse Marsch, can build on the successes of previous years? The first games indicate rather a transition season.
Hertha like Schalke?
The most wondrous of all Bundesliga clubs, however, is located in Berlin’s Westend. He goes by the name Hertha BSC. For years he has heralded the beginning of a better future, but has been trapped in an extremely dreary present for decades. Despite the legendary Windhorst millions, a look at the table after three Bundesliga games is enough.
There they shine with zero points and 2:10 goals in the role of Schalke, who only succeeded last year in not being in last place on only five of the 34 game days. They had replaced the entire management team of the club, worn out countless coaches, finally lost control under the Swiss Christian Gross and were then attacked by their own fans after relegation. It was unimaginable that a club could achieve a similar compression of madness in the next few years, it was thought.
But with Hertha BSC there is a serious candidate in the starting blocks. Also due to an erratic transfer policy, which seems even more strange under the new sports director Fredi Bobic than under the long-time boss Michael Preetz. Bobic, like Preetz a former Hertha striker, got rid of a complete offensive. Jhon Cordoba, Matheus Cunha, Talent Jessic Ngankam and Dodi Lukebakio all more or less voluntarily left the club’s premises at the Olympic Park. They were replaced with an eclectic mix of hopeful talents, troubled ex-national players, Schalke’s Suat Serdar, and experienced globetrotters, including returning Kevin-Prince Boateng.
On the last day they planned the big transfer offensive. That suggested behavior on social media. When they announced the transfer of 22-year-old Myziane Maolida, who could be released from Nice, early in the day, the one specially set up for Twitter jumped Transfer progress bar to 22 percent. He stayed there until after 6 p.m., the end of the German transfer window. Other signings fell apart, sometimes in a spectacular way. Two more players left before midnight, the progress bar still jumped to 100 percent. E Those who are now here should save Hertha. Coach Pal Dardai has already indicated that he cannot do that. After all, investor Lars Windhorst gets an entertainment show for his money. Will that be enough for him? Stay there exciting. And spectacular.
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