Can the next one
MISSING IT yet? The 2017/18 Bundesliga has barely finished, but the spectacular campaign has already left us hankering for more. The FIFA World Cup will provide a pleasant stopgap distraction, but will not entirely stop the longing for August to roll round quickly so we can go through it all again.
When the new season starts, FC Bayern München will set out with the firm intention of strengthening their grip on German football’s premium silverware. As the Bavarian juggernaut powered to an unprecedented sixth successive Meisterschale – and a 27th Bundesliga title in all – it was easy to forget the bumps in the road in the early stages of the campaign. Exit Carlo Ancelotti, enter Jupp Heynckes in early October for a fourth term, and normal, relentlessly successful service was resumed as they cantered home. His successor, Niko Kovac, has quite an act to follow.
Robert Lewandowski’s uncanny ability to score with metronomic regularity was untainted by Bayern’s early season troubles. The Poland star’s goals fuelled his club’s title win as he became the first non-German to top the Bundesliga’s scoring charts three times, ending on 29 strikes for the season.
The Bayern forward does have the top supporting cast in Germany. While Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben were as influential as ever in their mid-30s and Thomas Müller recaptured his matchturning form, it was James Rodriguez who stood out as orchestrator-in-chief in the first year of his two-season loan from Real Madrid.
Invention and industry combined to quickly make the former AS Monaco and Madrid man a key cog in the Bayern machine.
While the Colombia international was reborn, Naldo enjoyed an Indian – or should that be ‘Brazilian’? – summer.
Thirty-five years young, the rangy centre-back is no stranger to German football, but he still surprised many as 2017/18 was arguably the best of his 13 seasons in the Bundesliga. The Brazilian bedrock to FC Schalke 04’s best finish since also finishing second to Bayern in 2009/10 was stone-solid, while his two goals in derbies against Borussia Dortmund cemented his iconic standing with fans.
Three years younger than his stand-out performer, Schalke boss Domenico Tedesco carved out his own place in Royal Blue hearts in his debut top-flight season. A fresh-faced school-leaver when Naldo made his Bundesliga debut, the 32-year-old even out-performed his former coaching academy classmate, Julian Nagelsmann, who guided TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to third, their best-ever finish. Both will now take their first steps in next season’s Champions League.
The duo’s success underlined the Bundesliga’s penchant for a punt on youthful talent in the dugout while its deserved reputation as the playground in which kids are given the chance to test themselves against the big boys was further enhanced.
While USA internationals Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie established themselves as first-teamers at Dortmund and Schalke respsectively, Pulisic’s teenage teammate Jadon Sancho, who was just 17 when he swapped Manchester City for Dortmund last summer, gave more than a mouthwatering suggestion of the skills we might see from him next season. Reece Oxford at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Ryan Kent at SC Freiburg and Ademola Lookman at RB Leipzig left the EPL on a temporary basis to cut their teeth at the top level of the game here. Pablo Maffeo has already – like Sancho – opted to switch to Germany permanently, leaving City to join VfB Stuttgart for the new season. Many more to come?
Next season will have some new, unfamiliar faces, but some household names will be missing. RB Leipzig captain Dominik Kaiser will be wearing another shirt, Roman Weidenfeller will leave a big hole in the Dortmund squad as he heads for retirement and Heynckes, who turned 73 this month, will finally –finally! – retire. “I have lots of hobbies, I’ll keep myself busy,” said Germany’s most famous pensioner. And will his friend Uli Hoeness, the Bayern president, be on the phone again looking for another season-saving favour? “God willing, no.”
So the understated ex-Bayern boss may now get to enjoy the “little bit of peace” he craves after decades in the spotlight.
But as his title-winning beer shower dries while he sits at home in, Heynckes – like the rest of us – will be desperate for the action to start up all over again.