Karl-Heinz Rummenigge comments on future transfers, contract situations at Bayern Munich

Despite securing another historic treble last season under Hansi Flick, Bayern Munich wasn’t immune to the financial hardships felt by clubs across the globe as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Even the bigger, more successful clubs like Bayern were affected and Bayern did their part to try and help the rest of the clubs in Germany stay afloat when they were in serious jeopardy of going bankrupt.

The financial future of the footballing world and the transfer market especially is going to look a lot different moving forward. In a recent interview with Abendzeitung, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge provided some insight as to how Bayern is planning their future transfer business and their contract situations.

Not having the atmosphere and emotions of fans at venues, Rummenigge said, has been just as costly as the overall financial problems posed by the pandemic: “We haven’t had any spectators in the stadium for around ten months, the last time we were on March 8th in the home game against Augsburg. Of course, the pandemic has financial consequences, with 15 to 20 home games without spectators, there is great financial damage. The greater harm, however, is the absence of atmosphere and emotion. Football without fans is just less fun. We’re sitting in the stadium with 15 people, it’s a sad event. I admire the players how they continue to play their games with great motivation and commitment.”

Having acquired their star target in signing Leroy Sane from Manchester City this summer, Bayern finally ended what was an on-going transfer saga that seems like it went on for ages. They got him for a fee of €50 million, which was less than they would’ve paid for him the summer before, but looking ahead, that type of fee may not be financially feasible, as Rummenigge alluded to: “This season, however, FC Bayern will be hit hard — just like football as a whole, and indeed, the entire world. There is no area of ​​society that is spared from Corona. It is very likely that next summer we will not be able to make the transfers that were still possible before the Corona period.”

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Player contracts are also a big area of focus at FC Bayern right now. Several players have expiring deals within the next two years. David Alaba, Jerome Boateng, Javi Martinez, Leon Goretzka, and Niklas Sule all have contracts that will expire by at least summer 2022. For Sule and Goretzka, their contracts expire in June 2022 and Rummenigge didn’t want to reveal too much information as far as their contract negotiations are concerned: “I ask for your understanding that I do not want to comment on the topic. We are well advised to hold talks — but not to make public water level reports. That is not helpful.” When he was directly asked whether or not he was planning on having both players in the future, he replied, “If we can reach an agreement — gladly.”

For both Alaba and Boateng, the situation is a little bit different. It’s clear that Alaba’s wage demands are too high for Bayern and for Boateng, it remains unclear whether he’ll be staying beyond this season. “On the subject of Alaba, our President Herbert Hainer has explained everything: We withdrew our offer after it was not accepted by Alaba. Alaba is, of course, a good player who grew up at FC Bayern. [For Boateng], we’ll sit down and make a decision at some point in the coming months, without rushing,” Rummenigge explained.

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