According to a report from Sport1 journalist Stefan Kumberger, not everyone at Bayern Munich is a big fan of the newfound philosophy of developing young players to sell. While not explicitly stated who has a problem, it could be an internal battle between the old school thinking of the way the club needs to operate and a new school strategy to generate revenue by selling off younger players:
The fact that the youth players sometimes have to act as a kind of cash cow doesn’t sit well with everyone
behind the scenes. Internal and external critics are countered with the argument that not every youngster has what it takes to become a Bayern star – and that a successful development doesn’t necessarily have to end in the first team.
In any case, a player’s development is already considered a success if they later make at least 30 appearances in a league where salaries typically reach €100,000 or more per year. By this standard, almost half of the players trained at the campus achieve this.
This rate, however, only helps the club’s own professional squad to a limited extent. “It’s also important to develop many players to a high level and then make good transfers with them. And we’ve really succeeded quite well at that over the last one and a half, two, three years,” explained sporting director Christoph Freund on Tuesday. He also emphasized, however, that it is of course “the ultimate achievement” when a talented player makes the leap into the first team.
For those wondering what this means, well, there could be a slew of exits over the course of the next few transfer windows as Bayern Munich will look to cash out and reload on its youth players. Some of the players that you might think are being developed into future stars at Bayern Munich are already being lined up for future sales:
The next wave of sales from the young squad could come as early as this winter. If Bayern Munich’s U19 team has been eliminated from the UEFA Youth League by then, the club’s management could envision letting go of further talented players – either on loan or permanently.
BFW Analysis
Bayern Munich has big goals as a club and to achieve those, it needs money.
With television deals that pale in comparison to some of the their European competitors, Bayern Munich needs to get creative. The club is investing in capital ventures, real estate, and also making major enhancements to its existing assets to help fund itself and also become a more attractive destination to players. These are all necessities in a football world where the finances are now leaning heavily toward England and two LaLiga clubs.
With some other clubs like Paris Saint-Germain funded with monstrous financial backing, Bayern Munich is doing what it can to compete — and that includes turning the academy into a factory. It is an unfortunate reality for today’s game, but it is another important measure that Bayern Munich can use to generate revenue in hopes of competing with those aforementioned entities.
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