Bayern Munich has long had its eyes on young talent in Spain and while it is well know that the Bavarians were massive fans of FC Barcelona central midfielder Gavi, Bayern Munich also made a play for Lamine Yamal.
The following excerpts were published by Sport Bild
from Christian Falk’s new book, “Transfer Insider”, where Falk goes into many of the “inside stories” he has reported on during his career:It’s February 13, 2022, at the Palacio de los Duques Gran Meliá Hotel in Madrid: Sporting Director
Hasan Salihamidzic and Technical Director Marco Neppe had flown in for a meeting with former Spanish international Iván de la Peña. Salihamidzic and de la Peña knew each other well from their playing days. The Spaniard was now a player’s agent. Bayern Munich had requested a meeting because they are interested in one of his clients. The player’s name is Pablo Martín Páez Gavira—or as he’s known in the football industry, Gavi.
The delegation traveled to Madrid to gather information about the boy and to explore whether Gavi could be persuaded to move from FC Barcelona.
However, Bayern Munich shifted its focus from Gavi to Lamine Yamal in a surprise move:
However, Salihamidzic and Neppe also had a secret agenda, one they only intended to reveal at the meeting. The Munich scouting department presented the Bayern bosses with video clips of another of de la Peña’s clients – a player who had already started professional training at the age of 14. The attacking moves, tricks, and game scenes that the young Lamine Yamal displayed in these videos drove Bayern crazy. They had never seen such a talent at that age before!
The Munich sports directors are clear: Before next summer – when Yamal would celebrate his 16th birthday on July 13, 2023 – a transfer was not possible. Therefore, they traveled to Spain to lay the foundation for a potential transfer early on. De la Peña was therefore very surprised when, over dinner, Bayern suddenly shifted the conversation from Gavi to Lamine Yamal. Salihamidžić and Neppe laid their cards on the table: They were desperate to win the player for FC Bayern – and ideally wanted to meet his parents in person right away.
The agent assured them that they would pass on their interest to Yamal’s family. He would also inform his player that FC Bayern was showing concrete interest – and would like to meet him in person early on. Salihamidžić and Neppe began their return trip to Munich with a good feeling, knowing that they had gained an early advantage before the rest of the football world became aware of Lamine Yamal. But everything turned out differently.
Just as it seemed that Bayern Munich was making progress, Yamal opted to change his representation:
Before the end of the year, de la Peña picked up the phone to call his friend Brazzo. The Spaniard wanted to tell him that their idea for Yamal had fallen through because Ronaldo’s powerful agent, Jorge Mendes, had poached his client. For de la Peña, it was a huge business blow, and for Bayern, devastating news. Lamine Yamal would no longer be advised by him, the agent announced. Bayern were briefly shaken by the shock. Soon after, Mendes’ phone rang in Portugal. The Portuguese star agent now had Bayern’s sporting director on the line.
Salihamidžić came forward with a clear question: What would FC Bayern have to do to bring Lamine Yamal to Munich in the summer of 2023? Mendes thought for a moment and replied: “That will cost you a few million euros.” The sporting director replied that he would first have to clarify such a transfer for such a young player with the supervisory board. However, he needed a more precise figure for that. Mendes replied: “I could possibly convince the family at five million euros.”
Imagine that…Bayern Munich potentially getting Lamine Yamal for €5 million. Alas, it was not meant to be, even as the Bavarians went into scramble mode for a brief period. Even as the club was sorting out how to proceed, time was ticking and eventually Bayern Munich simply thought it had more time than it really did. Yamal would show his talent and everything would change:
Bayern were discussing Lamine Yamal internally – and were also weighing the risk of investing five million euros in such a young and largely unknown talent. The issue was subsequently put on the back burner – especially since a transfer wouldn’t have been possible until July 2023 at the earliest. But Lamine Yamal’s talent could no longer be concealed. The Spaniard took off so quickly that the decision to invest five million euros was ultimately taken away from Bayern.
Just six weeks before his 16th birthday, on April 29, 2023, at the age of 15 years, nine months, and 16 days, Yamal made his professional debut as the youngest player in the club’s history – coming on as a substitute in the 4-0 win against Real Betis. At the end of the season, he also became the youngest champion in La Liga history – even though he wasn’t even 16 at the time. But Yamal was now certain: he would make it at FC Barcelona, and a possible transfer was no longer an option for him. In October 2023, he signed a three-year contract (until 2026). An exit clause in the contract stipulated that Lamine Yamal could only leave the club if he paid one billion euros.
So…Bayern Munich never really got close because of Yamal’s age, but the club did identify a very young player that it should pursue. In the end Bayern Munich missed out on both Gavi and Yamal — and Salihamidžić would go on to lose his job for other reasons.
BFW Commentary
While it might not have exactly been a “near miss” (we are not sure if Brazzo whipped out a PowerPoint deck to lay out Bayern Munich’s plans…those are the details we need!), it does show that Bayern Munich was in early on Yamal and — under different circumstances — might have been able to bring in the eventual superstar.
It is amazing how many of these types of stories likely exist.
Bayern Munich is back in action this week and a tough slate of games lies ahead. Before we tackle all of that, though, there is much to unpack from Germany’s international break and the explosive performance from Uli Hoeneß on SPORT1-Doppelpass over the weekend.
Let’s get into all of that more on this edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works Show! This is what we have on tap:
- Let’s talk about the good, the bad, and ugly from Germany’s international break performances vs. Slovakia and Northern Ireland.
- Julian Nagelsmann is in a make-or-break period with Germany.
- Does the DFB need to think about bringing in Jürgen Klopp to overhaul the entire organization.
- Uli Hoeneß says Bayern Munich was the real winner of the transfer window and that Nicolas Jackson needs to get 40 starts for the obligation to buy clause to activate.
- Chuck quickly addresses Philadelphia’s return to the spotlight (for all of the wrong reasons).
- It’s time to turn focus back to Bayern Munich.
