Bayern München have always been known for poaching not only the best Bundesliga players, but signing them from their nearest league competitor. Throughout the years, particularly since the turn of the century, every time a Bundesliga challenger appeared (Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, and most recently RB Leipzig), their best players would always finish up at Bayern.
- Bayer Leverkusen: They challenged Bayern for the Bundesliga title in 2002 and reached the Pokal Cup and Champions League finals. Despite failing to win any of those competitions and giving rise to the club’s unfortunate nickname ‘Neverkusen’, Bayern wasted no time in picking apart their team. The following season, Bayern signed Ballack and Zé Roberto, and then Lúcio a few seasons later. Since then Leverkusen have not come close to even challenging for the Bundesliga title.
- Borussia Dortmund: Under the guidance of Jürgen Klopp, Dortmund won back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012, famously defeated Bayern 5-2 in the 2012 Pokal Cup final, and reached the 2013 Champions League final. However, Bayern didn’t even wait for the 2012/2013 season to finish when they decided to trigger Mario Götze’s buy-out clause just before the Champions League final precisely against Bayern München. The very next season, they signed Lewandowski on a free transfer and then Hummels a few seasons later.
- RB Leipzig: With Julian Nagelsmann at the helm, Leipzig reached the semifinals of the Champions League and even challenged Bayern for the Bundesliga title. But after 2021, Bayern dismantled Leipzig with the signings of Dayot Upamecano, Marcel Sabitzer, and even Nagelsmann himself.
An important caveat about Bayern
While Bayern München have received much stick from Bundesliga clubs and opposing fans, it was also hard to be too critical of their transfer policies because many of them fit necessary needs within the team. It’s also not Bayern München’s responsibility to worry about what is best for the Bundesliga, nor it’s their fault that the players they sign generally come on a free transfer (Lewandowski, Nübel, or Goretzka), with a year remaining on their contracts (Sabitzer or Sommer), or having a feasible buy-out clause (Upamecano or Götze).
Along with this, teams that challenged Bayern (Dortmund, Leipzig, etc) would always sign the best second-tier players in the Bundesliga (Marco Reus, Julian Brandt, André Silva, etc). So while they were not thrilled with Bayern, other Bundesliga teams were also upset with Dortmund, Leipzig, and others for poaching their best players.
How Bayern have dominated the Bundesliga
While Bayern München have gone on to win a record-breaking 10 consecutive Bundesliga titles (as with winning the Champions League twice since 2013), the argument could also be made that the weakening of their competitors has not only hurt the Bundesliga, but Bayern as well. It’s uncertain whether the absence of important test games is having a negative effect on them in the Champions League. However, the lack of Bundesliga competition is hurting Bayern München as a brand overall not only as a result of the league being less appealing to watch, but also because Bayern is receiving less global media exposure.
Something that’s seeing them struggle to sign top-quality players because they know that playing in the Bundesliga, even if it’s with Bayern München, won’t give them much of a global presence. Although quality players want to play for historical sides where they can win trophies, they also want to play in a team and/or league that will give them the most global media exposure to grow their own brand as players.
We’re seeing this now with the Premier League, which is the most famous and recognizable league in the world. Many important Bundesliga players are preferring to go to England, even if they’re not an EPL title challenger, rather than signing for Bayern München because of the exposure they receive in the Premier League. Along with this, after what happened to the likes of Götze, Sabitzer, and most recently Nagelsmann, Bundesliga players and coaches are now warier of signing for Bayern, as they could feel the club might not have their best interest in them.
Has FC Hollywood returned?
To make matters worse, Bayern is also finding it difficult to even keep their top players as many, such as Alaba and Lewandowski, have left the team. Although Bayern are struggling to keep up financially and exposure-wise with the Premier League, it’s also possible that this could have more to do with poor personnel management from Hasan Salihamidžić (Bayern Sporting Director) and Oliver Kahn (Bayern CEO).
Drama has always surrounded Bayern München and some of it would on occasion be initiated by their own directors. Previously, Uli Hoeneß and Karl Heinz Rummenigge (former President and CEO) were well known for speaking their mind and pulling no punches in giving their perspective on the team’s performances, but they at least knew the correct button’s to push to get their point across without causing friction within the squad. The club was in a good situation even after Uli Hoeneß retired and was replaced by Herbert Hainer in 2019. However, after Rummenigge retired in 2021, he was replaced by Oliver Kahn, and Salihamidžić began taking more media responsibilities. Since then, almost a week can’t go by without drama happening within Bayern. Just in the 2022/2023 season, there’s been:
- Lewandowski leaving because he felt under-appreciated by the Bayern directors.
- Neuer breaking his leg in a skiing accident
- Bayern firing Neuer’s goalkeeping coach.
- Salihamidžić criticizing Gnabry for being at an event in Paris.
- Nagelsmann’s personal life.
- Salihamidžić public criticisms of the team.
- Tension between Nagelsmann and Mané.
- Tuchel’s signing being leaked before Nagelsmann was informed of his sacking.
With all this, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many top-quality players are discarding the option to sign for Bayern München. Before, any important Bundesliga player (German or not) would always sign for Bayern, but now they find themselves below in the pecking order. The club was interested in signing Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund to replace Lewandowski, but the Norwegian international preferred to sign for Manchester City. Something which, as previously mentioned, upset Lewandowski and saw him force a move to Barcelona.
Conclusion
Regardless of whether the change from Nagelsmann to Tuchel actually benefits the team or not, Bayern find themselves in a bit of an odd predicament. Interestingly, it could be said that Bayern are in this mess because of their own doing as they obsessed with weakening their nearest Bundesliga. competitors. The lack of competitiveness in the Bundesliga has led to a decline in interest and made it unappealing even for quality players to sign for the Bavarian side. If Bayern don’t figure out how to revert this situation, it could eventually have serious consequences for them when competing with the best teams on the continental stage.
Javier Martinez is a seasoned veteran of football coverage and an expert on Spanish football. He has been covering world football for more than seven years with bylines at outlets such as The 18 and The Real Champs.