Bayern Munich’s Oliver Kahn accuses Lothar Matthäus of being a “headline supplier”

Lothar Matthäus is not someone who’s afraid to share his opinion on matters pertaining to both Bayern Munich and the German national team. As such, there are often times when the former Bayern and Die Mannschaft midfielder is rather critical of his former club, and he hasn’t been pleased with how Bayern has been handling Robert Lewandowski’s contract situation. There’s growing pressure to begin negotiations for a new deal for the prolific number 9, but Oliver Kahn has insisted that the club is remaining increasingly relaxed over the situation despite said pressure building rapidly.

Matthäus had recently told Sport Bild that he finds it “disrespectful” that Bayern’s front office has not yet approached Lewandowski to initiate negotiations for a contract extension. The club has made it clear that they want to Polish ace to stay, but they haven’t actually initiated contact with his agent, Pini Zahavi, who has proven notoriously troublesome for Bayern to work with in the past. He doesn’t necessarily have the greatest working relationship with Hasan Salihamidzic.

Kahn has stood firm on his stance that the club’s front office is still relaxed over Lewandowski’s contract situation. He’s affirmed numerous times that the priority right now is winning football matches both in the Bundesliga and Champions League and the talks will assuredly begin at some point in the spring. His recent meetup with Mino Raiola in Monaco stirred up a bevvy of transfer rumors since he represents Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland and Ajax’s Ryan Gravenberch, both of whom have been linked with Bayern.

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Speaking to Tz, Kahn responded to Matthäus’ criticism, saying that he’s a “headline supplier” with his negative views of what’s transpiring. “Lothar has never managed a club after his player and coaching career. Unfortunately, he has recently been interpreting his role as a good football expert more and more as a headline supplier. We can assess that. He would be well-advised not to talk about subjects for which he lacks any insight,” Kahn explained.

Tensions like this will likely linger until a solution is found with Lewandowski. Given that Kahn has, more than once, stressed that the focus for now is purely on the football matches themselves, it can be expected that indirect exchanges like this might carry on, even if there’s not really any significant substance to them. Unwanted, unnecessary distractions should be kept to the side as Bayern face the Rückrunde run-in and the quarterfinals of the Champions League.