LOSS OF MONOPOLY
At the end of April, in hot pursuit of a failed match with Hamburg, Uli Hennes tried to summarize Bayern's depressive performance in the season ending. However, the search for the guilty again did not provoke the Munich leadership to analyze their own activities in recent years. This time, the footballers of the team got into the focus of criticism of Hennes, who allegedly discredited themselves to such an extent that they deserved only revealing flogging and sending them home.
Recall that a previous attempt by the Bavarian management to understand the reasons for the then-still-ripening crisis led to a farewell to Felix Magat. The 53-year-old coach hastily hinted in the middle of the season that getting into the Champions League would be a decent result in the face of a change in game course. But this careless remark infuriated Rummenigge and Hennes so much that even two “salad bowls” taken by Magat in two seasons did not save Iron Felix from dismissal.
Another sentence of Hennes regarding the need for generational change also gives away managerial triviality and does not bring us too close to solving the Bavarian puzzle. What generational change can we talk about when the vast majority of Bayern players are at their prime: Lucio, Sagnol, van Beiten, van Bommel, Hargreaves, Demichelis. And having Lama, Schweinsteiger and Podolsky in their ranks - the headliners of a new wave of German talents, it is simply a sin to speak about the need for a massive infusion of fresh blood. The controversial and ambiguous game of this trio in the ending season was the result of moral and emotional devastation after the World Cup, but at the tournament itself the youth convinced of their ability to become a dominant force in Bavaria.
The departure of Michael Ballack in Chelsea is a thing of the past, but another analysis of the transfer is important for the analysis of the reported disaster in Bavaria. The reconstruction of the midline caused by him and the incorporation of Mark van Bommel into it, as expected, negatively affected the results of the Munich team at the start of the season.
Accusing the predicted decline in youth and the protracted restructuring of midfielder Felix Magat, Rummenigge and Hennes only averted the blow from themselves. However, subsequent events give reason to assume that it was still not in Magat. Having got rid of the “culprit of everything and everything”, Bayern again turned to the services of Ottmar Hitzfeld. Having had enough rest from each other, the Munich super club and General Ottmar again consolidated in the hope of a happy joint future. However, without taking a step forward with Hitzfeld, the Bavarian bonzes began to blame their players. It seems that the Bavarian leadership frivolously missed the moment of the loss of monopoly power in the Bundesliga and desperately does not want to see this as their fault.
PRIMITIVE ALGORITHM
The behavior of Bavaria in the transfer market over the past ten years has been carried out according to a rather simple scheme. With superior financial resources, the Munich team annually skim the cream from other Bundesliga teams and, in particular, from direct rivals. Making offers that cannot be refused, the Munich team easily recruited Bayer leaders (R. Kovach, Ballack, Ze Roberto, Lucio), Werder Bremen (Pizarro, Ismael), Hamburg (Salikhamidzhich, N. Kovach, van Beiten ), Borussia (Frings). This practice caused fury throughout the rest of Germany, but guaranteed the Munich almost reign in German football.
Without betraying himself last summer, Bayern put out 10 million euros for Daniel van Beiten and Lucas Podolski, and on the flag of the transfer campaign they also added Barcelona Van Bommel to them. Using a long-tested method, Hennes and Rummenigge were so convinced of their superiority that they did not pay attention, for example, to the exceptionally successful shopping of the Bremen and the rapidly increased financial capabilities of Schalke.
Looking at the new list of transfer priorities of Bavaria, we again note the desire not only to become stronger, but to kill our competitors. However, this time the secret negotiations with Klose, Diego and van der Wart not only did not bring the expected result, but also caused a wave of ridicule throughout Germany. In the hope of changing the situation for the better and starting a new life, Bayern continues to act with old methods.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW MARKETS
The loss of transfer dominance in the homeland makes the country's 20-time champions take up more closely the development of other markets. However, if the issues with the acquisition of Tony, Robben and Snyder are still far from being resolved, then the transfer of 21-year-old Argentinean Jose Ernesto Sosa was issued at the end of February.
The situation in the middle line of the Munich is depressing - Salihamidzic leaves for Juve, Scholl ends his career, and Daisler did it earlier. In this situation, “Bavaria” can not do without new midfielders. And if the free agent Hamit Altıntop is considered only as a promising reservist, then Jose Sosa is quite capable of becoming one of the defining figures in Bavaria.
Sosa is certainly not an economy class dispatcher like Karimi and dos Santos, who fed Magat in the light of Ballack's expected departure. His impressive game in 2006 aperture allowed Estudiantes to become the country's champion for the first time since 1983 and caused a wide resonance in scout services of European top clubs. Diego Simeone, the team's triumphant coach from La Plata, actively recommended Sosa to his former clubs Lazio and Atlético, but Bayern were the fastest to play, laying out 4.5 million euros for the new Argentinean star. The long-standing acquaintance of Hennes with the authoritative agent Jorge Sitterspiller, who organized the transfer of Martin Demichelis in 2003, affected.
Sosa is enviably versatile and beneficially acts both in the center and on the right. Given the unsuccessful attempts to get Diego and van der Warth, it is likely that it is precisely on the Argentinean rookie next season that managerial chores in the center of the field will fall. Although, for example, Lothar Matteus in his Bild column pessimisticly looks at Sosa’s prospects and calls on Bavaria to return to negotiations with van der Wart.
Another declassified acquisition of Bavaria is Jan Schlaudraff, who successfully chased Bundestrener Joachim Lev and then Uli Hennes with his successful play for Alemannia. In the contract of the 23-year-old forward, the amount of compensation for potential buyers was stipulated by ridiculous 1.2 million euros, and the Munich team did not miss the opportunity to actually get the main opening of the season for nothing.
The acquisition of Schlaudraff offers tempting tactical prospects for Hitzfeld. Ottmar often resorts to the 4-3-3 scheme, but it is now that he has almost the ideal resources for using it. Schlaudraff and Podolsky are forwards of the second pace, actively operating along the entire front of the attack. By positioning them along the edges of the only center forward (whether it be Roy Mackay or, perhaps, Luca Tony), Hitzfeld will find a very interesting attacking option.
But the purchase of the very center forward is perhaps the most pressing problem for Bavaria. Claudio Pizarro's contract expires on July 1. Roque Santa Cruz also set out to leave Germany. Well, Roy Mackay, although satisfied with his position in Munich, seems to no longer fit into the ambitious plans of Hennes and Hitzfeld. However, if the expected arrival of Luke Tony does take place, the Bavarians will forget about the problem of the striker for at least two years.
The supporting zone will remain legally capable even if Hargreaves leaves. Andreas Ottl - the creature of Magath - showed an impressive level of reliability even in the League. However, much will depend on how many people in the center of midfield prefer to use Hitzfeld. For example, there were already three of them in the second meeting with Milan. So it is impossible to exclude a possible strengthening of this line, which is confirmed by rumors sending Wesley Snyder to Munich.
The defensive line is hardly required to be strengthened. Moreover, a slight bewilderment causes the interest of Bavaria to Marcel Jansen from the departing Mönchengladbach Borussia. The left-back of the Bundestim is absolutely reasonably interested in Barcelona and, oddly enough, can count on Catalonia for more playing time. The fact is that the Bavarian duet of extreme Sagnol - Lam defenders, objectively speaking, is one of the best in Europe and an attempt to repeat the situation of the German national team, where Jansen is the Lam understudy, does not look quite reasonable. Moreover, Gerlitz and Lell are quite suitable for the role of adequate replacements.
In any case, Uli Hennes promised that Bayern are ready to spend significantly more than the usual 20-25 million this summer. In the near future, the contours of the new team will begin to emerge more clearly. Well, what will result in the re-entry of General Ottmar into the Bavarian river, we will finally understand next season.