Oliver Kahn reflects on Bayern Munich’s season, comments on transfer plans moving forward

Bayern Munich closed out its home schedule in the Bundesliga season with a relatively disappointing 2-2 draw against VfB Stuttgart, who are still fighting for their Bundesliga survival. However, the damage was already done two weeks ago with Bayern’s 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund, clinching their tenth straight league title, solacing the bitter frustration at having been knocked out of the Champions League by Villarreal.

For Oliver Kahn, this is his first piece of silverware as CEO of Bayern Munich. He stepped in to take over for Karl-Heinz Rummenigge at a difficult time due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic where even Bayern wasn’t impervious to considerable financial losses. Despite having to deal with those setbacks as well as the earlier exits from both the DFB-Pokal and Champions League, Kahn admitted that this tenth straight league title is still something very special for the club.

“Of course it’s a special championship. It was a fixed point for the whole club, this tenth title in a row. No team in the top leagues in Europe has managed that,” Kahn said of Bayern’s tenth straight league title ahead of the Stuttgart draw kicking off (Tz).

From the outside, looking at the Bundesliga as a whole this season, there’s been the justified argument posed that Bayern has been greatly aided by their direct rivals having very poor spells throughout the season. Both Dortmund and RB Leipzig went through rough spells at varying times throughout the course of the season that played into Bayern’s hands, but Kahn doesn’t feel that these “blunders” have as much to do with Bayern’s success as their own performances do. “What does blunder mean? In the last ten years there have always been opportunities. But we’re the last ones not interested in suspense. But that’s not a topic we have to deal with,” he explained.

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Aside from the performances on the pitch, a lot of rumors have been floating around in terms of what players might be leaving Bayern this summer, and what players might be coming in. In concert with sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and president Herbert Hainer, Kahn is very much a part of the club’s squad planning and transfer strategies, and he said that they have bold ambitions of brining in the proper personnel in future transfer windows. “That is still our goal. We also want to be able to win the Champions League in the next few years. We’re in the process of thinking about it. We want to build a team that can win the premier class in the next few years,” he stressed.

Obviously, Robert Lewandowski’s name and contract situation a Bayern is being intensely examined under the proverbial microscope right now amidst links to Barcelona. Thomas Muller has just signed a contract extension and Manuel Neuer is soon expected to follow suit as well. Much like the Muller and Neuer situations, Kahn said he is remaining relaxed with Lewandowski, as well as Serge Gnabry. “We have now seen with Thomas Müller that we are taking it easy. That’s exactly what we’re doing now. With Manuel Neuer. With Robert Lewandowski. With Serge Gnabry — in peace,” he said.

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