Bayern Munich’s summer transfer window got off to a rocky start when 22-year-old Bayer Leverkusen attacker and German international Florian Wirtz spurned the Rekordmeister for a move to Liverpool in the Premier League. Later in the summer, Stuttgart refused to even come to the table with Bayern over Nick Woltemade. To Stuttgart’s credit, they were able to extract an exorbitant amount from Newcastle United that Bayern was unwilling to match.
A fair number of other top players made the move from the Bundesliga
to perceived greener pastures in England. In a recent interview with German media outlet Welt, Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen rejected the notion that Bayern cannot financially compete with the rich English clubs.
“That’s an exaggerated statement, and in my opinion, it’s not true,” said Dreesen (via @iMiaSanMia). “FC Bayern remains one of the most attractive clubs in the world. Both of them moved to the Premier League – but at the same time, we also signed two players from England, Luis Díaz and Nicolas Jackson. And let me remind you that we signed Harry Kane two years ago.”
In recent years, first-division Bundesliga clubs have stopped selling to Bayern. Most of the recent incoming players have joined on free transfers, such as Jonathan Tah, Tom Bischof, Konrad Laimer, and Raphaël Guerreiro. The only player to successfully make the move in the last four years was Hiroki Itō.
