Report: To stay with Bayern Munich, David Alaba must back off salary demands

The back-and-forth media battle between Bayern Munich and the negotiating team of star defender David Alaba has taken yet another turn.

According to kicker, if Alaba wants to extend his stay with Bayern Munich, his side will have to approach the club and it will have to come ready with a reduced overall cost. Per the report, Alaba will not receive an improved or revised offer from the Bavarians:

The leading figures agree that FCB will not change its position and, it is said, will not “add a cent.”

The report also went into the timeline of how things played out and, not surprisingly, there are discrepancies with what has already been reported. Per kicker, this was the chain of events that led to Sunday’s media blowup with Herbert Hainer and Monday’s subsequent media-driven retaliation on Monday from Alaba and his camp:

Prior to last weekend

November 1st at 3PM was the established deadline for Alaba’s camp to respond to what appears to be Bayern Munich’s best-and-final offer. The offer would have ran through the 2023/2024 season and been worth up to €20 million (with performance bonuses and agents fees included).

Photo by Roland Krivec/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Saturday October 31st

• Bayern Munich sporting director Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidžić called Alaba’s agent Pini Zahavi on the previous Saturday and pointed out the deadline that would end on the following day. Zahavi allegedly told Salihamidžić that the offer “needed to be improved.”
• Salihamidžić then told Zahavi that the club would withdraw its offer on Sunday and announce this step after the deadlines passes. Clearly, Bayern Munich president Herbert Hainer’s announcement on television with BR 24 Sport was always going to be the place where the Bavarians drew their proverbial line in the sand with Alaba.

Sunday November 1st

• Per kicker, Salihamidžić reportedly had a 30-minute one-on-one conversation with Alaba to let him know that Bayern Munich would be withdrawing its offer. This conversation occured after team training was completed. The report from kicker states that, “the player accepted it without much emotion.”
• Herbert Hainer then dropped the bomb publicly on BR 24 Sport.

Monday November 2nd

• David Alaba made his now-famous “disappointed and hurt” speech in which he claimed he didn’t know about Bayern Munich’s intent to withdraw its offer. Alaba said that he “learned about it yesterday in the news.” Per kicker’s story, that notion appears to be false given Salihamidžić’s private meeting with Alaba just a day earlier on November 1st.

The Fallout

Since then, of course, there have been a plethora of stories with people commenting from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to Lothar Matthäus to Hansi Flick on Alaba’s contract conundrum and — even better — the rampant speculation about potential transfer destinations. It is said that Alaba prefers to play in Spain should he leave Bayern Munich, but both primary suitors (Real Madrid and FC Barcelona) might also have trouble meeting the player’s financial demands.

More, Alaba’s assertion that talk of a potential “swap deal” was a “slap in the face” also appears to have been a bit overblown according to kicker:

Salihamidžić briefly discussed this option with Zahavi, but it was never put into concrete terms in the FCB leadership. Zahavi did not want to comment on the current phase of the project in response to an inquiry from kicker.

While Salihamidžić did approach Zahavi with the idea as Bayern Munich was negotiating with Manchester City for Leroy Sane, there were no official discussions among the Bayern Munich board to actually approach Pep Guardiola with a formal proposal that would include Alaba. As noted in the kicker report, Zahavi did not comment on that subject when asked.

Whatever the case, the picture is becoming much more clear: Bayern Munich will not improve its offer and will not offer to negotiate with Alaba any longer. If the Austria international wants to stay in Bavaria, he will have to request a meeting and reduce his desired financial package. Otherwise, it would appear the storied player’s career with the Bavarians is coming to a close.