Have you ever wondered how a top club like Bayern Munich decides which player to buy in the transfer window? The process is more complicated than it seems. There is an entire scouting structure behind the scenes that is invisible to the average fan, hard at work identifying targets that the club can go after.
So, what does that scouting structure look like? Sky Sports gives us an outline.
The pyramid
The whole system can be visualized as a pyramid with the highest ranking decision makers at the top. Max Eberl,
board member for sport, and Christoph Freund, the club sporting director, are the two men that everyone else reports to. They are the ones who face the media publicly, who take the heat when things go wrong.
Below them is Nils Schmadtke, who works entirely in the shadows. The 36-year-old joined FC Bayern from Borussia Mönchengladbach on the recommendation of Eberl, who sought out his services. Schmadtke and his team place an emphasis on live scouting while also being very data driven.
As head of scouting, Schmadtke answers to Christoph Freund. Below him are chief scouts Florian Zahn (responsible for the Campus) and Andre Hechelmann (responsible for the professional players department). The two have a close working relationship, as the campus and professional scouting departments at Bayern Munich have recently been merged together.
The overhaul
Since joining the club, Schmadtke has been responsible for a massive overhaul in the scouting department. Nine to ten scouts have been dismissed in recent months, and eight new ones have been added.
His radical measures have met some pushback, with not everyone being happy with the approach. In fact, some employees reportedly fear Schmadtke for his tough approach. Despite this, there are positive signs regarding the work of Schmadtke, Eberl, and Freund in the realm of transfers.
How it works
Schmadtke and his team spend considerable time domestically and abroad, scouting new players for the club. Following these scouting sessions, they are the ones who make initial contact with agents.
If Eberl and Freund then decide in favor of a transfer, the matter is forwarded to the supervisory board. The board then decides, based on financial considerations, whether negotiations can begin. If the supervisory board gives the go-ahead, Eberl and Freund are free to negotiate for the transfer. When all parties are satisfied, the move finally takes place, subject to a medical.
Per the report, the supervisory board has recently been impressed by the in-depth analysis and dossiers compiled by the scouting team, tempered by the experience of Freund and Eberl.
What needs to improve
The biggest thing that needs to improve, as noted by Uli Hoeneß himself, is that transfers need to be concluded earlier in the window and not drag on. Hoeneß wants the squad planning to essentially be complete as early as possible, so that there is peace and clarity in the final days.
However, things don’t always go to plan. Look at Bayern’s dogged pursuit of Nick Woltemade, which eventually fell through because a deal could not be agreed with Stuttgart. So, even if Eberl and Freund identify their targets early, there is always the chance that a particular transfer saga could become a quagmire.
The goal of the club is to buy experienced talent while also promoting promising youth. A recent example is Lennart Karl, who has broken into the first team and is playing regular minutes this season. Bayern Munich hopes that this approach will yield the best results possible, despite the intense competitive nature of the transfer market.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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