Bayern Munich, the best club in Germany, have won 6 Champions Leagues, 33 Bundesliga titles, the last 10 all coming in a row, and one of the biggest reputations in world football. However, they may be about to find themselves in between a rock and a hard place, but nobody sees it right now.
Firstly, they’ve been underperforming recently. Their run of 17 consecutive UCL group stage wins has come to an end at home vs Copenhagen, although honestly, that’s not too bad. However, they’re still only 2nd in the Bundesliga, and were knocked out of the DFB Pokal by 3rd division Saarbrücken. Their most recent UCL exits were all in the Quarters, a lackluster performance vs Man City, a defensive disaster vs PSG, and an all-round disaster vs Villarreal. They were also a Jamal Musiala winner away from losing the Bundesliga title for the first time since 2012. So, not all is roses for Bayern at the moment.
Now, the thing that prompted me to make this. Transfers. While Jamal Musiala and Mathys Tel are great young players that Bayern signed as coups, they are seriously in need of something new. Manuel Neuer has been old for about 5 years now, and just returned from a 10-month long skiing injury, and now 2 of their biggest players are being lured away by Barca and Real Madrid. Barca are looking into the signing of Joshua Kimmich as their replacement for Sergio Busquets, and Real Madrid want Alphonso Davies as the next in a line of great left backs, with players like Marcelo and Roberto Carlos. With the futures of others such as Dayot Upamecano uncertain, Bayern’s “new era” team may be dismantled as quickly as it was assembled.
This team gives me serious 19/20 Barca energy. Sort-of new era, but still in a transitional phase and not very sustainable. However, this team is a little better than that team, with good young players mentioned earlier, but this team is 1-2 disasters away from going into crisis mode.
All in all, while Bayern is still in a fairly okay position, they can’t keep going like this. Changes need to be made, and with key players potentially being lured away, Bayern will have to think outside of the box to prevent a “banter era” stretch of seasons from them. I’m Jim James, until next time.