Bayern kicked the summer transfer season into motion by announcing two high-profile signings before the window even started. We take a look at the successful way in which die Roten handle transfers.
To say that transfers are an important aspect of the football business would not only be a massive understatement, but also quite obvious. Now more than ever, clubs throw massive sums of money at each other to poach good players. It is almost as if Florentino Pérez’s galácticos policy became the norm.
This has had many results. A worldwide diaspora of nationalities has globalised football greatly. The nationalistic identities of teams have become increasingly lax. For instance, a recent game between Inter and Udinese became the first-ever Serie A match not to feature Italians in either team’s starting lineups. Barely any English players start for sides like Manchester City.
Another effect is the inflation of the transfer market. The amounts that both clubs and fans consider normal for relatively good players have escalated exponentially in the last decade. Needless to say, Real Madrid have spearheaded this trend. Not only have they broken the transfer fee record regularly for the past fifteen years, but they have no problem in paying absurd amounts of money for lukewarm players.
Moreover, many players who attract the attention of several big clubs often become the centre of what can be best described as auctions. A club will flex its financial muscles as much as it can to lure a certain player in. Some other club says “Oi, we want this bloke too” and one-up the fee and wage. A dispute starts.
Perhaps the best-known recent case is that of Neymar. Real Madrid and Barcelona were at it for more than a year until the Catalans finally won the Brazilian over.
With this sort of panorama, it has become more and more important for clubs to anticipate their own needs and plan ahead. Swift and decisive action in the transfer market has become the deciding factor in getting great players’ signatures in contracts. Naturally, this is compounded by the reputation of teams’ sporting projects.
In this respect, Bayern have shown to be way ahead of the competition in recent years.
The difference a couple of months makes
To illustrate just how quickly a player’s value can rise under the right conditions, I will use the example of Toni Kroos’ and James Rodríguez’s respective transfers to Real Madrid for the 2014-15 season.
Now, both players transferred to Madrid after the 2014 World Cup having performed brilliantly at the tournament. Kroos not only won it. He was statistically the best player, according to FIFA itself. James led an inspired Colombian side to its best ever World Cup finals, attaining the Golden Boot and the competition’s best goal in the process.
Madrid paid €25m for Kroos and €75m for James (per Transfermarkt). Why is there such a massive difference between their price tags? If anything, Kroos should have been more expensive than James, having actually won the World Cup.
The difference is in when and how Real Madrid negotiated for the players.
Kroos was the star of a rather unpleasant tantrum at Bayern. He wanted a bigger wage than the club thought he deserved and was willing to offer. His agent decided to pressure the suits by offering Kroos to big-name clubs across Europe. This was widely publicised in the media. With Bayern unwilling to change their position, the issue became about where Toni would go, not if.
Needless to say, the whole thing was wrapped up before the World Cup started. Real Madrid paid a decent amount of money for a very good player. In the Kroos case, Madrid did what Bayern does 90% of the time. They identified an opportunity, moved quickly to stay ahead of the competition, and got a good signing for a good price.
With James, it was the complete opposite. You could call his signing a knee-jerk transfer operation. Real Madrid took notice of him only after he had turned in such a fantastic performance in the World Cup. With a Golden Boot, a best-goal award and credit for being the leader of his country’s best World Cup performance, Monaco could (and did) charge Real Madrid almost whatever they wanted to.
Kroos was signed before June for less than thirty million Euros. James was signed after July for upwards of seventy.
That’s the difference a couple of months makes.
The Bayern way
This leads us to how Bayern handles their transfers. Obviously, there is a set of deep differences between the whole philosophy of transfers Bayern has and Real Madrid’s. People do not think of Bayern as a club that signs players with marketing high in the priority list. Real Madrid, on the other hand, seem to make some signings with marketing as the only priority.
First off, I think it is pretty evident that Bayern dislike lengthy transfer sagas. A case in point is Javi Martínez. Athletic Bilbao were an absolutely nefarious institution to try to negotiate with. They forced Martínez to deposit a large amount of the fee Bayern paid for him, himself. This created a huge problem, in terms of taxes and legally speaking. As a result, he had to forego much of his salary from the Basque club.
The whole deal was distasteful, at best, and Bayern refuse to take further part in anything similar.
Instead, Bayern opt to sniff out good opportunities in the transfer market before anyone else does. Douglas Costa, for instance. At least according to the media, none of the usual transfer market upsetters took notice of him. He was not the subject of a multinational financial competition. Bayern sneaked in, quickly negotiated with Shakhtar Donetsk, and for a decent fee, Costa packed for München.
Early deals are also part of Bayern’s transfer strategy. Xherdan Shaqiri’s transfer was announced in February 2012, almost five months before the Swiss international joined. This year, both Mats Hummels and Renato Sanches followed that same trend. This no-nonsense approach ensures that the club gets good talent ahead of others. Alternatively, if other clubs refuse to negotiate, the Bavarians have time to seek other options.
A crucial component of the success attained by Bayern’s transfer policy is the sporting project. Bayern’s reputation as one of Europe’s top clubs precedes them. When players sign for Bayern, they sign for a team that contends for all three major titles every season. Even if it is only on paper, that is an exciting prospect.
Clubs like Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and even Real Madrid themselves are in a different position. While they boast a massive wallet – certainly larger than Bayern’s – they do not have the same competitive status as Bayern. Their overbuying tendencies make them look like they lack an actual project to build on.
Players who are serious about their career aspirations know this. While it may be generally less than the aforementioned teams, Bayern does not exactly offer rubbish wages. But they offer something they do not: a bigger chance to compete for everything there is to win. Domestically and continentally.
This is why, when Bayern does get tangled in a competition to sign someone, players like Renato Sanches move to the Allianz Arena instead of Old Trafford or the Santiago Bernabéu.
The Holy Trinity of transfers?
So, we end up with three important factors:
- A honed nose to spot talent before everyone else;
- An early-bird approach to signing targets;
- A veritable and reputable sporting project.
This may be a gross oversimplification of Bayern’s transfer policy. Nah, strike that. It isan oversimplification. Still, you cannot deny that these three factors, as well as the interactions between them, are a huge part of why Bayern can bomb the market with flash signings announced early. It is why die Roten can frustrate deals that other clubs saw as completed.
Bayern are not afraid to dish out large amounts of money when the players they buy warrant them. However, they are much smarter than other big clubs. Bayern’s most expensive signing ever was Javi Martínez at €40m. Real Madrid’s was Gareth Bale at more than twice that. Bayern have a treble. Real Madrid do not.
The only other club who have a similar approach is, oddly enough, Borussia Dortmund. The Bumblebees have made some terrific signings in recent years. Names like Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Julian Weigl come to mind.
They were completely off everyone’s radar when they arrived at the Signal-Iduna Park. Now, they are almost household names for any knowledgeable football fan. They have added a tremendous amount of quality to Dortmund’s team.
Meanwhile, Manchester United broke an English transfer fee record for Ángel di María, only to sell him after a single disappointing season. Chelsea had to ship out Fernando Torres after he failed to meet the mark. Real Madrid gave Real Sociedad €40m for Asier Illarramendi. He was a chronic benchwarmer and returned to Anoeta for less than half the money.
Bayern (and Dortmund) are living proof that you do not need to show off your wallet every two seconds to build a proper team.
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