Bayern cherry-pick Bundesliga’s best with ten in a row in sight
Bold, innovative, incredibly flexible tactically, analytical to the nth degree and a consummate teacher: newly-installed Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann, just turned 34, rightly has a reputation as one of the brightest young bosses in the world game. When Hansi Flick opted to walk away at the end of last season, soon to re-emerge as Germany’s next
Bundestrainer, the former RB Leipzig man was an obvious choice to take over the reins at the Allianz Arena.
Champions for the last nine years and clear favourites to make it ten in a row, Bayern spared no expense to bring Nagelsmann on board, paying his former club RB Leipzig €25 million – a record transfer fee for a coach in Europe. Bayern’s swoop for Nagelsmann was absolutely inevitable. This is what the Bavarians do to stay on top: target the main men of their domestic opponents and make them an offer they can’t refuse. Tellingly Bayern did not just take Nagelsmann off RB’s hands; they also headhunted Leipzig’s outstanding young centre-back Dayot Upamecano. Once again, the Bavarians begin the season taking a step forward while their rivals are forced backwards.
Nagelsmann, a Bavarian who has always supported Bayern, has proved himself to be a class act these past few years, steering unfashionable Hoffenheim to the Champions League and enjoying considerable success in his two seasons with RB Leipzig: a Champions League semi-final spot in 2019-20 and second place in the Bundesliga last term. But neither his achievements nor wunderkind status will give him an easy ride at Bayern. The weight of expectations at Germany’s top club is enough to give anyone sleepless nights and, if he does fail to deliver domestically in 2021-22, the fiveyear contract he has just signed will be quickly forgotten.
One of the most fascinating of the challenges facing Nagelsmann is how he deals with Bayern’s copious roster of egos and exceptionalism. At previous clubs, Hoffenheim and Leipzig, Nagelsmann mainly worked with younger, inexperienced players. Up to now, he has never had to open lines of communication with such superstars as Thomas Muller, Robert Lewandowski or captain Manuel Neuer, who is a year older than his new manager. They will not be nearly so impressionable or inclined to toe the line.
This is what the Bavarians do to stay on top: target the main men of their domestic opponents and make them an offer they can’t refuse
Another group Nagelsmann will have to win over is the Bayern supporters. A substantial number of them are convinced that Flick – who led Bayern to a marvellous clean sweep in 2019-20 of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup – was not sufficiently backed by the club, and that he would not have left if director of sport Hasan Salihamidzic had not ridden roughshod over his recruitment needs. Many Bayern supporters would have preferred to see Flick stay and Salihamidzic shown the door. For the fans, Flick’s departure made little sense. Why pay a huge amount of compensation for Nagelsmann when you already have a highly successful coach?
A new broom is very much sweeping at the Allianz Arena at the moment. As well as the Nagelsmann appointment, three seasoned pros have left (Real Madrid-bound David Alaba, Jerome Boateng and Javi Martinez) and, for the first time in nearly two decades, they have a new chief executive in former goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who has taken over from the long-serving Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Kahn will certainly have his work cut out. According to club president Herbert Hainer, the coronavirus pandemic has reduced Bayern’s turnover by a whopping €150m.
Mindful of such losses, Bayern will be looking to Nagelsmann to initiate a more organic approach to squadbuilding, with less off-the-peg big buys, more emphasis on the nurturing of fresh-faced new signings and greater opportunities to graduates from the academy. This, at least is the long-term plan. The all-important question is will they be able to stick to it.
Bayern were not the only top-fight outfit to undergo a technical area makeover in the off-season. Seven other teams also have a new coach to unveil, including each of last season’s top six. Not surprisingly, RB Leipzig,
Seven other teams also have a new coach to unveil, including each of last season’s top six
went shopping for Nagelsmann’s replacement at Red Bull sister club Salzburg, appointing the impressive American Jesse Marsch; Dortmund have high hopes that former Borussia Monchengladbach boss Marco Rose will make them far more consistent; while Gladbach took advantage of a €7.5m release clause to snatch Adi Hutter from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Another Austrian, Oliver Glasner, replaces Hutter at the Deutsche Bank Park. After steering Wolfsburg to a fourth-place finish last term, the former LASK boss turned down Champions League football in order to take the Frankfurt job. The Wolves in turn have plumped for the former Bayern Munich and Netherlands midfield warrior Mark van Bommel, whose last job was at PSV Eindhoven. Gerardo Seoane, a serial title winner in Switzerland with Young Boys of Bern, now has the keys at Bayer Leverkusen, while Cologne, who only stayed up last season via a promotion/relegation play-off victory over Holstein Kiel – have substituted veteran fire-fighter Friedhelm Funkel for ex-Paderborn manager Steffen Baumgart.
So many new coaches, so many imponderables. The 59th Bundesliga campaign could be a cracker.
The transfer market in the Eredivisie started slowly and hasn’t come to an end yet. However, it will be difficult to see a more controversial move than the €4 million deal taking Steven Berghuis from Feyenoord to arch-rivals Ajax. The deal came as a massive shock, especially in Rotterdam.
And Feyenoord supporters will not forgive the winger. There were videos of a fan burning his shirt, while he also received several threats.
Going from Rotterdam to Amsterdam has always been a sensitive move. That’s why only four players in history have left the harbour city for the capital: Henk Groot (in 1965), Jan Everse (in 1977) and Arnold Scholten (in 1995). There have been more that have gone in the opposite direction, since in Amsterdam they don’t make such a fuss about it.
The last player to move directly between the clubs was goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer in 2014, who went from warming the bench at Ajax to starting between the sticks at De Kuip. Back then in Rotterdam, they were pretty pleased with such a scoop.
With this deal, Ajax have claimed their payback. After all, did they really need a 29-year-old winger with a front-line of Sebastien Haller, Antony and Dusan Tadic, who has just signed a new contract? Why weaken the opposition by signing their best player and only current Dutch international when you are the strongest anyway? Why take a player who collects unnecessary red cards and has openly criticised his club’s tactics?
Ajax coach Erik ten Hag, who has ruled himself out of contention for the national team job in the next two years, will point out that he needs strength in depth to make it to the latter stages in European football. Especially given that Lassina Traore has joined Shakhtar Donetsk and another winger, David Neres, has been linked with an exit.
Nevertheless it will be interesting to see what reception Berghuis receives when the two rivals meet at De Kuip on December 19 – which, incidentally, is the day of his 30th birthday. He has no doubt heard about a bizarre incident 41 years ago when Wim Jansen, a European Cup winner with Feyenoord, joined Ajax from Washington Diplomats. Temperatures in Rotterdam in December 1980 were below zero, with the reception from the crowd even frostier. During the warm-up, Jansen was hit just below his eye by a snowball and was forced to withdraw.
Yet Ten Hag has bigger worries than Berghuis, not least in goal, with Andre Onana determined to join his ex-coach Peter Bosz at Lyon. The feeling is that the Cameroon keeper is ungrateful for all the support (and his salary) he has continued to receive during his doping suspension. Euro 2020 showed that stand-in Maarten Stekelenburg is reliable but not someone who makes the difference in Europe.
Still, Ten Hag doesn’t have much to worry about when it comes to domestic football. Winning a third title in a row should not be much of a problem for Ajax, although PSV have strengthened.
After a miserable first season German coach Roger Schmidt is making up for lost time. The Eindhoven club have signed Marco van Ginkel permanently from Chelsea, Andre Ramalho from Schmidt’s former club Red Bull Salzburg, Davy Propper (Brighton) and goalkeeper Joel Drommel (FC Twente). That looks promising, but the downside is that star players like Denzel Dumfries, Cody Gakpo and Donyell Malen will probably be leaving before the deadline.
Meanwhile, Feyenoord boss Arne Slot, who was fired by AZ halfway through last season after announcing his move, will try to replace Berghuis with former Eredivisie top scorer Alireza Jahanbakhsh. Further arrivals are Israeli keeper Ofir Marciano, Norwegian right-back Marcus Holmgren Pedersen and attacking-midfielder Guus Til. However, key players like Marcos Senesi and Tyrell Malacia could still be leaving, as Feyenoord need the cash.
Whether AZ, who shared the top spot with Ajax in the pandemic-limited season two years ago, can compete will depend on what happens to their “Fab Four”: Calvin Stengs has already left to join Nice in a €15m deal, but will Teun Koopmeiners, Myron Boadu and Owen Wijndal follow him through the exit door?
It is a common theme among Ajax’s rivals: the losses are bigger than the gains. That’s why it is hard to see the Eredivisie trophy leaving Amsterdam.
Feyenoord supporters will not forgive the winger. There were videos of a fan burning his shirt, while he also received several threats