It’s no secret that Bayern Munich have pursued the controversial signing of defender Jonathan Tah from Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen. Selling Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui to Manchester United was the final obstacle between Tah and Bayern, in a sequence of moves that has rightfully invited outrage from fans.
As the pair moved to England, it was assumed that Tah would soon join the Rekordmeister, but in a completely new turn of events, that might not happen after all.
In an interview with news outlet kicker, Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro hit out at Bayern sporting director Max Eberl: “I don’t think much of Max Eberl, absolutely nothing! And I wouldn’t negotiate with him.”
This sudden outburst seems to have come out of negotiations over the aforementioned Jonathan Tah transfer, and kicker had a solid explanation as to what went down (via @iMiaSanMia):
According to @kicker, Carro’s attack on Eberl comes after Bayern and Leverkusen had an agreement in principle over the general conditions of a deal for Tah and the deal seemed it will be done once de Ligt joins Manchester United. But then Bayern abandoned this plan and Eberl didn’t keep the agreement, which caused big anger within the management of Leverkusen. Bayern now would only sign Tah for a ‘much cheaper fee’ than the previous agreement, which is out of the question for Leverkusen, who would rather lose him for free next year than sell him to a direct competitor for a bargain price.
Sky’s Florian Plettenberg reported about the specifics of such an agreement (via @iMiaSanMia):
Max Eberl and Leverkusen had verbally agreed on a €30m transfer fee (25+5) for Tah. But it wasn’t a written agreement. Due to many new developments and plans, Bayern now don‘t want to pay €30m. The supervisory board has also not yet approved the package. Hence the anger of Leverkusen’s management.
It seems that a very public transfer saga might end with a very public feud between the managements of both rival clubs.
In good news, the Tah transfer might well not happen anymore — but this could the second player who won’t join Bayern after summer Long pursuit after Désiré Doué decided to join PSG.
Carro did apologize later, but the damage might already have been done.
“I’m an emotional person. I made the statements about Max Eberl in an informal exchange with Bayer 04 fans. It wasn’t my intention for them to be taken up and multiplied in this way,” said Carro (as captured by Bild via @iMiaSanMia). “But that doesn’t change anything about the statement, for which I hereby apologize. Of course I respect FC Bayern, the people in charge and the achievements this club has made for German football.”
What do you think about the new developments? Is it an overall positive for Bayern? Could this affect Bayern’s ability to sign players *cough* Florian Wirtz *cough* from Leverkusen in the future? Was Max Eberl’s act justified? Could the Tah transfer pull through after all? Tell us everything you think in the comments below!
The Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show has our thoughts and analysis of Bayern Munich’s 3-0 win over WSG Tirol, who stood out, who missed out, and what takeaways fans have as the preseason friendly slate concludes. Check it out on Patreon, Spotify, or below:
