Bayern Munich aim to steal march on rivals in post-Robbery era
Two points is a fragile margin of victory by Bayern Munich’s modern standards. Enough to ensure a seventh successive Bundesliga title last May but too slender to make the summer months seem restful.
The German champions have been looking for an emphatic statement, and in the minds of many within the club, it has not yet been uttered loud enough.
Bayern kick off the new season on Friday against Hertha Berlin under a mist of issues as much about who will not be involved as anticipation about who is.
First, there is no new manager. Nor should there be, given that Niko Kovac, a young, slightly left-field appointment in 2018, did oversee a comeback in his debut campaign in charge, hauling back a dynamic Borussia Dortmund after Dortmund established a compelling lead in the table at halfway through the campaign.
Nonetheless, Kovac’s shaky start lingers in the memory, and he has his critics, including sceptics at Bayern’s headquarters who wonder whether he can develop the authority of some of his predecessors.
On Friday, there will be no Arjen Robben or Franck Ribery dancing inside from the touchlines or waiting to apply their wizardry from the bench. That marks a genuine turning point.
The Dutchman and the Frenchman are both in their mid-30s, had become less influential in recent seasons, but still defined what CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge called “the most successful decade in the club’s history”. Ribery, 12 years a Bayern player, and Robben, there for 10 years, have both left.
So has Mats Hummels, to rejoin Dortmund, but the departure of “Robbery” as the Robben-Ribery duo became known, feels more impactful because they were viewed as a representation of Bayern’s exceptionalism. They were flag-bearers for a commitment to dashing wing play for so long that it has become part of Bayern’s essence.
It still will be, through the likes of Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman, but Bayern wanted more glitz for the post-Robbery era. The most conspicuous absentee from the beginning of the Bundesliga season is one Leroy Sane. Bayern had felt determined to make Sane their marquee recruit.
It would have taken something near to €150 million (Dh614m) to drag him away from Manchester City, but the winger represents so much that Bayern aspire to they had been minded to table that sort of money.
Sane, 23, may be the most watchable wide attacker in football when he is on form; he is almost certainly the most exciting, glamorous German footballer of his age.
But his cruciate ligament injury while playing for City in the Community Shield two weekends ago stymied that ambition. He will be out of action for several months, but still on Bayern’s radar: a transfer saga postponed rather than terminated.
In the medium term, Ivan Perisic, 30, has arrived on loan from Inter Milan, a worldly footballer for the left extreme of the forward line. Perisic was a World Cup finalist more than a year ago (Sane was dropped by Germany from the squad ahead of that tournament).
Perisic has won the Bundesliga before – with Dortmund in 2011/12 – and was part of a Dortmund team that reached a Champions League final. Yet Perisic would have to have arrived in Munich wearing earplugs and a blindfold not to have noticed that his signature has been greeted as an underwhelming alternative.
No Ribery or Robben and they failed to land their main transfer target – can Bayern maintain their grip on German football?
Moreover, Perisic will be another conspicuous absentee against Hertha on Matchday 1. He carries over a one-game suspension from Serie A which he must serve with his new club.
Hummels will be elsewhere, having returned to Dortmund after three seasons at the Allianz Arena, ambitious, at 30, to achieve a unique sort of career symmetry. The defender won two Bundesliga titles with Dortmund before joining the Bayern juggernaut and picking up three in a row. He now eyes a third in yellow-and-black.
“I’ll be expected to take responsibility and bring in a winning mentality,” Hummels said of his switch from a Bayern looking to refresh their side to a Dortmund whose youthful pizzazz energised the 2018/19 Bundesliga but lacked, perhaps, a touch of experience.
Besides Hummels, the challengers have made enterprising signings. There’s the German winger Julian Brandt and his compatriot wing-back Nico Shulz; there’s Thorgan Hazard, creative playmaker with the best Belgian genes. If none of those are quite Leroy Sane, they are all at least on site, and ready for lift-off.