Dietmar Hamann believes Bayern Munich is entering into a challenging phase

It goes without saying that this is a transitional period for Bayern Munich. While they secured their ninth consecutive Bundesliga title last season, there’s a lot of changes afoot that could really make the upcoming season under Julian Nagelsmann a really challenging period. There’s been managerial changes, front office changes, and Bayern also said goodbye to veterans David Alaba, Jerome Boateng, and Javi Martinez. All of this, coupled with financial losses from the coronavirus pandemic is cause for concern for Bayern from Dietmar Hamann’s point of view as he wrote in his column in the most recent edition of kicker (via Az).

“Since the pandemic has also negatively changed the situation at FCB, there could not have been a less favorable time for the new main chief officials to take over from the great and successful predecessor,” Hamann wrote. The timing, without the pandemic, would’ve been absolutely fine, but Hamann is worried that the front office changes are coming on the back end of an incredibly complicated period on multiple levels, but mainly financial.

It’s not as if the future of the club is being left in unstable hands, but Oliver Kahn, Herbert Hainer, Hasan Salihamidzic and company will certainly have uphill mountains to climb, one of which will be contract negotiations this summer. Namely, Bayern’s front office still has to sort out new contracts for Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich, and Niklas Sule.

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From a defensive perspective, Bayern has lost both Alaba and Boateng and in return, they’ve signed both Dayot Upamecano and Omar Richards. There will be an added element of continuity given the relationship Nagelsmann already has with Upamecano from their time working together at RB Leipzig, but Hamann still feels that such a transition in defense would make it highly difficult to maintain Bayern’s domestic dominance. He said it would be “under the worsening conditions a huge success if Bayern were to remain internationally competitive and continue to dominate nationally.”

“There are interesting months and years ahead of the record champions. The biggest challenge for him [Nagelsmann] will be following a coach who was very popular,” Hamann continued. Stepping in so soon after Hansi Flick’s historic treble and sextuple run is going to make Nagelsmann’s critics that much more hyper-aware. It won’t take many mistake for the press to really get on his case, especially since he’s what Hamann referred to as one of the “three or four most sought-after coaches in Europe.”