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At a press conference earlier today (as captured by Sport1), Bayern Munich sporting director Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidžić addressed the ongoing contract negotiations with David Alaba.
If anyone thought the Bavarians were going to pressure Alaba to make a decision or take a final offer, the negotiations will not quite go down that road. In fact, Salihamidžić seemed at ease and completely willing to let it play out.
“David is our player, he’s been with the club for a long time,” said Salihamidžić. “We will not give him an ultimatum. We’re trying to convince him and hope he’ll sign at some point.”
That patient approach, however, seems to be sparking up rumors as Alaba has been loosely linked to Juventus over the past few days.
For his part, Alaba has been commenting on how he sees things progressing, but has not revealed anything that would provide insight on what direction he will eventually go.
Salihamidžić, though, was asked about more than Alaba. The sporting director addressed the overall transfer window and why Bayern Munich wanted to get at least some of its deals finalized early.
“We signed (Leroy) Sane, (Tanguy) Nianzou and (Alexander) Nübel in the first transfer window, then we concentrated completely on the Champions League tournament,” said Salihamidžić. “That was very important. Then we had to see what options we had. We took our time, we believe that our squad is very well filled.”
As far as finances go, Salihamidžić acknowledged things are challenging at all clubs right now.
“We have difficult times and all clubs have to deal with them properly,” said Salihamidžić. “Our CEO said that too. So we had to deal with our budget properly. We want to give the coach the best possible team. But we mustn’t get out of our frame. There are limits to the transfer market.”