Details emerge of heated exchange between Hasan Salihamidzic and Alaba agent Pini Zahavi

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge may not have named names when he recently criticized agents for making unrealistic demands in the post-coronavirus world, but it was obvious that his comments were directed at David Alaba’s agent Pini Zahavi. Now details of the meeting that prompted those remarks have emerged.

Bayern’s executive for sport Hasan Salihamidzic gave Zahavi a piece of his mind at a contentious meeting with the super-agent, David Alaba’s father George, and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge at the Bogenhauser Hof, a high-end restaurant. According to Bild, when Zahavi demanded a salary of more than €20 million for Alaba, Rummenigge and Salihamidzic were “upset” and “insisted that such sums were unthinkable in corona times.” When Zahavi then laid out what income streams Bayern would supposedly enjoy in the future, Brazzo had enough. Bild’s account:

He energetically asked what world Zahavi was living in and whether he really believed everything he was telling them then.

Rummenigge was visibly impressed by the executive for sport’s conduct. Nothing more was subsequently said about money. Nor much about a new contract. Since then, talks have been put on ice.

Bayern wants to extend with Alaba for less than €20 million. Zahavi, for his part, has been threatening that Alaba might leave the club on a free transfer in 2021, citing PSG and Manchester City.

It is amusing to speculate how Bild obtained these details of the quartet’s private negotiations. Were Christian Falk and Tobias Altschäffl sitting at the next table? Was Dennis Brosda hidden beneath Bayern’s table?

Or did perhaps Salihamidzic or Rummenigge themselves describe the meeting? Salihamdzic’s power as executive for sport is actually the subject of the article that describes his dealings with Zahavi, and Rummenigge praises him in a side column. Rummenigge says there, “With the transfers he has completed, Hasan has proven that he has mastered his business.”

However this account of Bayern’s meeting with Zahavi and George Alaba leaked out, I would say that it casts Alaba’s agents in an unflattering light — and that is presumably exactly its purpose.