Report: Empowered Brazzo has to fix youth system at Bayern Munich and decide who the club will sell this summer

Bayern Munich is undergoing a summer of upheaval to say the least:

• Manager Hansi Flick: Gone
• Assistant coaches Hermann Gerland and Miroslav Klose: Gone
• Club legends David Alaba, Jerome Boateng, and Javi Martinez: Gone
• Last season’s transfer deadline deals Tiago Dantas and Douglas Costa: Gone
• Campus prospects Angelo Stiller, Lasse Günther, Michael Wagner, Angelo Mayer, Daniels Ontuzans, Kilian Senkbeil: Gone
• CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge: Going at the end of the month

You get the point.

This is truly the dawn of a new era at Bayern Munich and the man tasked with finding a way to mitigate all of those losses is sporting director Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidzic. In a recent interview with Bild, Rummenigge had this to say about Salihamidzic:

“As the sporting director, Hasan is primarily responsible for ensuring that the squad wins national titles and competes for titles internationally. He also has to keep an eye on young talent and finances.”

While that all may seem obvious, Salihamidzic is now the formal architect, who even has a longer tenure with the club than his current/future bosses Herbert Hainer and Oliver Kahn.

Per Bild, there are three primary areas that Salihamidzic needs to get squared away:

• Contracts: Salihamidzic has immediate concern with making decisions on the respective futures of Leon Goretzka, Niklas Süle, and Corentin Tolisso, whose deals all end in 2022. While Goretzka is expected to finalize a new contract after the European Championships, the statuses of Süle and Tolisso are less certain. Depending on the club’s immediate plans for both players, each could move on as soon as this summer. More, Salihamidzic has other key players he will needs to address shortly as well in Joshua Kimmich, Kingsley Coman, Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller, Serge Gnabry, and Manuel Neuer, who are among the key players who have deals that end in 2023. In addition, Bayern Munich could need depth at right-back and in the central midfield before the 2021/2022 season starts.
• Finances: In addition to any players he adds to the roster, Salihamidzic is going to be tasked with trying to figure out how to budget for all of those aforementioned players — most of whom, will require a pay raise. Bayern Munich is reluctant to blow out its salary structure and the front office has often been heard calling for a European salary cap. With so many key players who need new deals — and some key holes on the roster to fill — Salihamidzic will need to be creative with his finances.
• Youth development: Bayern Munich has a state-of-the-art campus, but has failed to develop players for the first-team — or at least young players to sell off to help with finances at a minimum. Instead of a developmental ground, the campus is becoming a roadblock for many young players. While the depth and talent on the first-team roster is the primary reason so many youth players never progress to the senior roster, other prospects have just not gotten better during their time at the campus. Salihamidzic is going to have to figure why player development has stunted and how the club can start evaluating and producing first team talent. According to Bild, “there was always displeasure that young players were bought by other clubs instead of trusting their own talents.”

As Bild states, “Salihamidzic’s word now has more weight. But there is also more responsibility on him.”

Good luck Brazzo. You might want to do some extra reps for your neck and shoulders...that crown has got to be feeling pretty weighty right now.