There has well and truly been a changing of the guard that has taken place for Bayern Munich for the past two seasons and their reign as Bundesliga champions was finally snapped this past season by Bayer Leverkusen. To add insult to injury, Bayern even surrendered the second place in the Bundesliga table to VfB Stuttgart with a run of horrendous results to close out the season after the mood for the entire season as a whole was deflated having been knocked out of the Champions League semifinals by Real Madrid.
Blushes were spared at the end of the 2022/23 season when Thomas Tuchel was able to celebrate a Bundesliga title with Bayern thanks to a stoppage time winner from Jamal Musiala in Cologne and Borussia Dortmund capitulating at home against Mainz. Bayern were incredibly lucky to have lifted the Meisterschale then, but the writing was on the wall and Tuchel now has the stain on his managerial résumé if having been the first manager in over a decade to not win silverware in a single season with Bayern.
Despite all of Bayern’s shortcomings over the past two seasons, there can simply be no denying how incredibly good Bayer Leverkusen were under Xabi Alonso, having won the domestic double, finishing the Bundesliga with a thoroughly impressive 90 points. While certainly achievable with Alonso at the helm, it will be difficult for Die Werkself to reach the same heights for this coming season, a season that Bayern president Herbert Hainer feels Bayern should be the favorites to win it once again after a year of not doing so.
“Last season bothered us. We lacked consistency in our performances. We have to work on that. And the competition is not sleeping: Leverkusen can build on a great season, Dortmund is always on the list, as is Leipzig. But FC Bayern are always playing for titles, that’s in their genes,” Hainer replied when he was asked whether or not Bayern are favorites to win the 2024/25 Bundesliga season (via @iMiaSanMia).
With Vincent Kompany coming in along with a newly assembled coaching staff, it is the start of a new era at FC Bayern, and a lot could yet happen in the summer transfer window after the club has already signed Hiroki Ito from VfB Stuttgart and is close to signing Michael Olise from Crystal Palace. There are a handful of players that could wind up leaving before the window closes at the end of August and Bayern is still working on bringing in a handful of key players, but Kompany will surely be wanting to put Bayern back on top of the German footballing pedestal.