Geschäft Review: Awards for Bayern Munich’s business from the season of 2007/08

Continuing our series reviewing the recruitment of Bayern Munich, we look at the summer of 2007 and the subsequent months in the 2007/08 season, a season that saw Bayern complete a domestic treble but fall in controversial fashion in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals to Zenit St. Petersburg.

Leiterkletterer: Toni Kroos

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Is there really anything to say about Toni Kroos that hasn’t already been said? One of the greatest midfielders to touch the game made his very first moves in professional football in the 2007/08 season after promotions through the Bayern youth system.

Überschuss: Owen Hargreaves

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After being grown by Bayern Munich over the years, Owen Hargreaves would practically beg for a transfer to Manchester United. After being denied in the summer of 2006, he would get his wish a year later for a fee of €25 million. This transfer would end up being the last significant event of his career, as his four year stint at Old Trafford would see him make only 27 appearances due to recurring injuries and lack of trust from Sir Alex Ferguson. His contract would not be extended, causing him to look for a new club, and would end up on the blue side of Manchester for a season before being forced to retire due to a lack of offers, having made only one appearance for Manchester City, in a league cup game against Birmingham City.

Sehr Vermisst: Roy Makaay

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Look, Bayern may have had a world class striker partnership already, but losing Roy Makaay was still a massive loss. A Bayern legend until the end of time, the Dutch international would spend three more years at Feyenoord after his transfer from Bayern for €5 million where he would set the Eredivisie alight before retiring at the age of 35.

Reue des Käufers: Miroslav Klose

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Miroslav Klose will forever be a legend for Germany, but it must be said that his stint at Bayern Munich was a little disappointing. Arriving from Werder Bremen for €15 million, Klose would score 53 and assist 27 in 150 games. He wasn’t poor by any means in his four year stint in Bayern Munich, but the lack of contract extension spoke volumes.

Neue Legende: Franck Ribéry

Photo credit should read JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

€30 million.
425 games.
124 goals.
182 assists.
2-time Footballer of the Year for France.
Footballer of the Year for Germany in 2008.
2013 UEFA Player of the Year.
One half of the greatest winger partnership world football has ever seen.

Franck Ribéry is one of the greatest players in the history of Bayern Munich, which is insane when you realise that his stint in Munich was massively diluted by injuries in its latter half. His transfer marked the start of a new era under Ottmar Hitzfeld. An era that could scarily have been so much more glamourous than it already was, and boy was it glamorous.

Honourable mention to Luca Toni who is a Bayern Munich legend in his own right but you cannot really compete when you have Ribéry to compete with.

The 2007/08 season saw the start of a new Bayern with major departures and arrivals, and the transfer business here was a major reason for the successes they would celebrate over the next few seasons.

What do you think of this window? Could Franck Ribéry possibly have been better than he already was? Let us know in the discussion below.