When Bayern Munich announced the signing of Dayot Upamecano last week, it was a longtime coming, but also a process that was contentious and painful at times for all involved.
When asked about the proceedings, Bayern Munich supervisory board member Uli Hoeneß refused to address the still unknown figures of the deal, but said that it was an agreement that the club executives all backed.
“I’ll refrain from commenting on the figures. However, we have discussed the entire contract internally over the past
few days. Herbert Hainer, Max Eberl, Jan Dreesen, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, and I are all in agreement: We will put this whole topic of agents up for discussion. And we will no longer tolerate agents dictating how things are done. Their contribution is increasingly disproportionate to the fees they demand. They earn far too much money for what they do – for some, it doesn’t even extend beyond three lunches with us,” Hoeneß told Bild (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We will increasingly say “no” and refuse to participate in this madness. We can even tell the player: ‘If your agent continues to negotiate so outrageously, we will no longer discuss your future with us’ — it has to go that far.”
Hoeneß, though, was not done there. The club legend took a blowtorch to Upamecano’s representation.
“Do you know what’s so disastrous about this? In Upamecano’s case, the agents either wanted to drive up the price for us or push him to another club, and as a thank you, they want us to pay them a signing fee. That’s a contradiction in terms that we shouldn’t accept any longer,” Hoeneß said. “The word ‘no’ will be heard more often in the future. We at the club are all in agreement on that. We might also put a few agents – if they behave unfairly – on a list and tell them that we will no longer sign players they represent. That would be the next step.”
It appears as if Bayern Munich is ready to channel the immortal world of Popeye when it comes to negotiations…“It’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”
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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