In a recent interview with SportBild (via Tz), Oliver Kahn outlined the criteria he would like to instill for Bayern Munich’s future transfers. Of course, there’s no telling when the next transfer window will be and what, exactly, it will look like, but Kahn wants to ensure that Bayern is bringing the right players to the club who will fit the Mia San Mia mold.
In Kahn’s view, top class talent without the right mentality is nothing - a player needs to have a good head on his shoulders:
In order to play a central role at FC Bayern, both the athletic abilities and the character, mental aspects must be well matured. Winning mentality, humbleness, discipline and perseverance also belong to the profile of requirements, just as the player’s athletic quality.
Bayern’s scouting department is focusing on a multitude of different aspects of a player’s character in addition to their talents when deciding if they think said player would be a good fit at Bayern. It’s been suggested that they’ll go as far as closely examining a player’s attitude on the pitch in terms of how they celebrate goals, how they react to certain calls, and how they interact with their teammates in certain situations. For example: when the player scores, do they go over and celebrate with the assist provider and the rest of the team, or do they make the celebration more about themselves? They’ve even gone as far as studying how a player looks when they get off of the team bus before matches: do they seem focused and locked in, or do they spend more time signing autographs and taking pictures with fans?
The scouting department also utilizes social media platforms to try and get a feel for a what a transfer prospect is like off the pitch. Most top footballers use social media a lot and oftentimes use it to promote some of the brands they’re involved with other than the club they play for. The scouts want to see; does the player use their social media platforms to showcase their luxury cars, expensive clothing, big houses, or boasting their own self image?
Kahn also said that Bayern wants to place more emphasis on Bayern molding youth players through the ranks up to the first team. It’s something that Bayern needs to be doing far more often than they currently are, in Kahn’s opinion:
In addition, it is our goal to develop youth players who have the potential to become rightful successors of players like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm, Thomas Müller, David Alaba or Toni Kroos into pros for FC Bayern.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic severely affecting the transfer market, Kahn still feels that the top transfer targets with larger fees will still wind up getting moves, but perhaps to lesser extent than clubs would’ve been anticipating before the virus brought seasons to a screeching halt:
The absolute top players will still have their market, though it is doubtful if it will range in the same known extreme amounts. As far as extreme salaries are concerned, a reduction of them would be a logic consequence.