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Veth Peter's avatar

Very good Manuel and Stefan if it is ok call stefan with his first name good

look to you both

your dad

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Allen's avatar

Stefan and Manu -- have you seen the reports from El Pais claiming that Bayern could actually describe €60M for the Lewandowski transfer? They’re claiming €45 fixed, €5M if Barca qualify for the Champions League, and €10M if he completes the season.

Any thoughts on the validity of this reporting?

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Manuel Veth's avatar

Hi Allen, from what I am hearing that report is accurate. Also want to add, that €45m fixed isn't instalments, that's a straight up payment.

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Allen's avatar

Thanks Manu! El Pais also shared a lot of background on JN’s tactics and philosophy (and how Lewandowski doesn’t fit into those plans). Would love to hear your team’s thoughts on that in future podcasts.

https://elpais.com/deportes/2022-07-16/el-bayern-celebra-la-venta-de-lewandowski-al-barcelona.html?ssm=TW_CM&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1658009229

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Manuel Veth's avatar

We are putting a bow on the Lewandowski story in our next podcast and will address many of those things. So stay tuned :)

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Allen's avatar

👍 Danke

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Amir Bakovic's avatar

Great podcast!

Perfect length for walking my dog door to door.

I'm actually really happy to go into this new season without a dedicated #9. Like Stefan said, this would open up some space for Leroy Sane and the others. Mane, Gnabry, Sane front 3 would be deadly. With Phonzy coming up and mixing it up with Mane on the left.

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Nate K.'s avatar

Is there a market at all for Benjamin Sesko from Salzburg? I thought he would be a good young signing target for Bayern as a long term replacement.

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Stefan Bienkowski's avatar

Good question! I think I'll let Manu answer that one, since he likes to keep a close eye on all things Salzburg...

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Pratyush Mahapatra's avatar

Thanks for the podcast. Looking forward to more content. Have a few questions/observations:

1. Given that CL final is in the Allianz Arena this year, how do you think that is motivating squad planning for the season? (Maybe DeLigt signing and would that be a reason behind the hardball stance on Lewandowski?)

2. Where do you think Joshua Zirkzee's ceiling lies? I read a stat that he had one of the highest goal contributions for players in his age group but I havent seen any of his matches last year and not sure how that would translate to the Bayern squad?

3. Given that this is a WC year and Germany will most likely also play a strikerless formation, would that in anyway impact Bayern's squad planning? And in addition, would Bayern consider signing Havertz or Timo?

4. Salaries - Accounting for De Ligt, a new contract for Gnabry and if Lewy stays, Bayern will have 11 players (+Neuer, Muller, Mane, Sane, Kimmich, Goretzka, Coman, Hernandez) earning around 20M (some more, some less). Thats ~220 M in wages per year for some of them who will end up having to sit on the bench (mostly Sane/Gnabry). Would that be a reason why Bayern would avoid going for a big striker signing and instead focus on getting a younger star (say Mathys Tel) and have a lower wage bill?

5. This goes counter to my 4th point but I have heard in many places that some deals are beyond Bayern's financial capacity. But this is also the 3rd richest club in the world which has made a profit for umpteen years consecutively (even during the pandemic). How is it that there are deals which Bayern can not do but a debt ridden club can? I guess the willingness to take on debt is the answer but wanted to let this point stand.

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Stefan Bienkowski's avatar

Thanks for the comments Pratyush! Let me see if I can answer some of these questions...

2. Personally, I'm not entirely sure Zirkzee's future does lie at Bayern. It's already hard enough as it is for young players to make the step up in Munich and I'm still to see him really turn it on in the first team. Having said that, he seemed to have an incredible season in Belgium last year - so he may yet develop into a top star. But he may have to leave Bayern to get the necessary game time. I think he'll get crowded out this season.

3. I don't think Bayern give a huge amount of thought to what Flick is doing for Germany in terms of buying players. There's no way Chelsea will sell Havertz anytime soon and I'm also not sure Werner's wages would make him too enticing to Bayern. Plus, him and Mane have a similar profile on the pitch. There's no need for him now in Munich.

4. Yes, I think you're right. A bulging wage bill has been a problem at Bayern for some time now. It's due to them keeping up with wage inflations in the PL and has certainly ate into their transfer budget as a result. But if Lewandowski leaves that's a good €25m+ off the wage bill for this season. Which should comfortably cover most of the new signings at the club, plus a pay rise for Gnabry. I suspect that's what will end up happening.

5. Yeah, you've basically answered the question yourself. Bayern are the third richest in terms of revenue, but in terms of pure profit or money in the bank they can't really compete with PSG or Man City - who frankly enjoy, shall we say, "convenient" commerical deals with companies in the home countries of their owners. Barca and Juve have tried to combat this by taking on debt, which Bayern aren't willing to do. Whether or not it's the right or wrong thing to do is, I guess, up for debate. But worth bearing in mind different attitudes across Europe to debt: In some countries like the UK and Spain, taking on debit (or credit) is pretty normal. But in Germany it's still widely frowned upon and goes all the way back to the great recession at the start of the 20th century. Most Germans still don't use credit cards - so it's easy to see why Bayern are against such an idea, while clubs like Barca or PL sides don't mind it.

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Pratyush Mahapatra's avatar

Thank you for your response. Answers all my questions. 😊

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Stefan Bienkowski's avatar

My pleasure!

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Pratyush Mahapatra's avatar

Have to take back point 1. Looks like the CL final @ Allianz has been pushed back to 2025.

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Allen's avatar

Gents -- how do I find the RSS link to play the podcast on my preferred app?

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Stefan Bienkowski's avatar

Hey Allen,

So you should have a welcome email in your inbox from when you subscribed. At the bottom of that, under the headline "Some housekeeping..." you should have a link that will help you stick the subscriber show on your podcast app. If not, let me know and I'll see what I can do!

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Allen's avatar

Thanks for the quick reply. I checked the email you reference, but no link was found.

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Stefan Bienkowski's avatar

Hmm, that's odd. This page may be able to help: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4519588148244-How-do-I-listen-to-episodes-on-my-podcast-app-

If you scroll down it to the "Manually add a private RSS feed to your podcast app" section, it should show you how to find the URL in your account settings on Substack.

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Allen's avatar

Thanks -- I was eventually able to get it connected by visiting the podcast episode on a mobile browser (rather than the substack app). The RSS link isn’t available through the substack app itself for some reason. Weird.

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