A look ahead at Bayern Munich’s winter transfer window

Losing Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona was a massive blow for Bayern Munich and trying to replace a player that can guarantee you at least 30-40 goals per season is going to be missed dearly.

With that said, Bayern had an incredibly successful summer transfer window bringing in Noussair Mazraoui, Ryan Gravenberch, Sadio Mane, Matthijs de Ligt and Mathys Tel. They showed in the beginning stages of the Bundesliga season and in the Champions League that there’s no shortage of goals playing without a natural, No. 9 striker like Lewandowski, though they have hit a rut in the Bundesliga. They’ll be looking to turn their fortunes around with a tough run of matches againstBorussia Dortmund and SC Freiburg — two difficult, tricky opponents.

With an abysmal chance conversion rate from the last four Bundesliga matches before Leverkusen, there’s been a natural outcry for Bayern’s front office to dip into the January transfer window and look for a potential striker. It would be pretty difficult to find one that’s good enough for the club, available, and most importantly, affordable. However, if Bayern can’t improve upon scoring three goals from over 90 chances in four matches, something drastic will have to change.

Photo by Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images

Sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić recently spoke to Bayern Munich club magazine “51” (as captured by Abendzeitung),and stressed the fact that he’s really not a fan of the winter transfer window as a whole. Ideally, his squad planning tactics and strategies are all planned out to have been unfolded by the end of the summer window, much like it was this time around. “I’m not the biggest fan of transfers in January because I usually complete the planning for a season in the summer. But of course, we will follow the World Cup very closely,” Brazzo explained, with an insinuation that there will be contingency plans drawn up based on what happens in Qatar.

With players like Tel, Bayern does like to place an emphasis on buying younger players and molding them into world class talents as opposed to frequently going for the big-money, marquee signings like other European powerhouses tend to do. Jamal Musiala is another perfect example of this model, but there are, of course, outliers like Lucas Hernandez, Leroy Sane and De Ligt that have cost Bayern lots of money.

Nonetheless, much like the rest of Bayern’s front office and supervisory board, Brazzo is not a fan of the “big” transfers and doesn’t want to have to be forced into making any moves they don’t need to. “I don’t believe in big transfers - I hope above all that our many players get through the tournament healthy and injury-free,” he said.