Sometimes it is fun to wonder how the world would be different if things had gone a different way. For example, what transfers did a club like Bayern Munich come so close to making but ultimately fail to pull off? How would things look Take the way Bayern passed on a young, future multi Champions League winner Raphaël Varane back in 2011. Would he have been a big part of the treble push? Perhaps one would say the sale of Toni Kroos to Real Madrid was a mistake that allowed Los Blancos to strengthen
further. What if that had never happened?
Another player in that mold is Ousmane Dembélé. The current holder of the Ballon D’or starred for Stade Rennes back in the 2015/16 season for just one season before being picked up by Borussia Dortmund. One year later, he transferred to FC Barcelona, went through his many ups and downs before moving on to Paris Saint Germain. There, he has won the sextuple and been hailed as the best player in the world.
But what if he had gone to Munich instead? Supervisory board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was asked about Bayern’s reported interest in the French star back in 2016, back when KHR was still Bayern’s president, and he detailed the whole story:
“I was personally involved with Dembélé. We, and especially our then director Michael Reschke, were determined to sign him, but unfortunately Dortmund beat us to it. Dembélé was playing for Stade Rennes at the time. The club owners were also the owners of Puma. Dortmund had a kit deal with Puma back then,” Rummenigge explained, as captured by @iMiaSanMia. “So it was clear that we, as an Adidas-sponsored club, wouldn’t necessarily be given priority. He was a wonderful player, but as we saw, he quickly left Dortmund for Barcelona. He’s undoubtedly a very good player, but he also needs to be managed well.”
Dembélé got his move to Barcelona through throwing a stink, skipping pre-season and demanding an exit. A huge transfer fee will have calmed the Dortmund front office, but the experience nevertheless left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. There were then frequent reports that Dembélé would stay up late playing video games, oversleeping and subsequently showing up late for training. These incidents seem to pain a picture of his character, though it is always worth noting that reports do not always represent the full truth.
Furthermore, the 28-year-old has really come into his own at Paris. His wonderful talent is finally being used to its’ full extent, he seems to be fully focused on his football and he is a genuinely beautiful player to watch. His Ballon D’or win did not come out of nowhere, after all.
So the question is: Would he have been able to hit his potential in Munich? Would he have been one of the players to pick up where Robben or Ribéry left off when they left in 2019? Or would the teething problems have been too much at FC Hollywood?
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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