Bundesliga - "A big task": FC Bayern urgently needs reinforcements
The last dance of the year was a very manageable affair. 14 seasoned professionals and three young talents from FC Bayern Munich bounced around in front of their own fans after the 2:1 (2:1) victory at VfL Wolfsburg.
The richest and most successful club in German soccer by far could not get more players together after various injuries, illnesses and the mishaps of the summer squad planning.
The resolution for the new year is clear: if Bayern want to catch league leaders Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and at the same time keep up with clubs like Real Madrid and Manchester City in the Champions League, then this thinned-out squad urgently needs an addition in January.
Tuchel: "It's not easy"
"We will try to strengthen the team in the winter. But it's not easy and I don't know if we'll succeed," said coach Thomas Tuchel after the game in Wolfsburg. "Because the winter transfer market is always a bit more complicated than the summer."
It is "very difficult to get players in the middle of the season who we are 100 percent convinced of - both in terms of personality and quality. That we get the whole package: That will be a big task. We all need a bit of patience and confidence. Otherwise, we will continue to push the ones we have."
The German serial champions now have to work under difficult conditions on the squad gaps that they were unable to fill back in August. Central defense, right back, defensive midfield: Bayern have a need in these areas. And every club with whom they will enter into transfer negotiations in the coming weeks knows this.
Tuchel's concerns become clear just by looking at the players with whom Munich had already reached an agreement in the summer or had been linked with. The Portuguese João Palhinha (FC Fulham) has now extended his contract with the London club. Frenchman Pierre Kalulu (AC Milan) will not be fit to play again until March at the earliest following a thigh operation. And according to Sky information, Bayern will either not be able to get their supposed dream candidate Ronald Araujo (FC Barcelona) at all or next summer at the earliest. He is simply too expensive.
Ailing professionals have to play through
Wolfsburg showed Tuchel once again just how great the risk is of going into the decisive phase of the season without any further transfers. Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka were absent due to illness, while Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry and Noussair Mazraoui were injured: In the last game of the year, two professionals even had to play through (Dayot Upamecano and Raphael Guerreiro), who had suffered gastrointestinal problems shortly beforehand.
And so, even at the start of 2024, Bayern will still have to pay a price for the turmoil they created in 2023: When they changed the coach, the sporting director and the CEO within the space of a few months. And then negotiated all personnel issues in a transfer committee in the summer, which had more members (7) than transfers (5). Among them was transfer king Harry Kane.
At least Tuchel now has a new sporting director at his side. "I think something will happen," Christoph Freund said on Sky about possible winter transfers. "We want to position ourselves in such a way that we can achieve our goals in the spring."
And despite all the criticism of the squad planning, a €100 million purchase in Wolfsburg also showed once again that he has exceeded even the wildest expectations in his first four months in Munich: Harry Kane ended the soccer year with his 21st goal of the season and a clear message: "Bayer Leverkusen are pushing us," said the Englishman. "They have a strong team, they play really good soccer, they have a great coach." But: "We still have a lot more in the tank. Bundesliga, Champions League - and then the European Championship here in Germany: we've got a big year ahead of us!"
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Source: www.stern.de
