Oliver Kahn hits back after being blamed for high player salaries at Bayern Munich

One of the major storylines of the summer transfer window has been Max Eberl’s desperate attempts to reduce the wage bill at Bayern Munich — to limited success. This is why Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui were offloaded to Manchester United, and why the club is currently using the nuclear option against Leon Goretzka, completely freezing him out of matchday squads until he chooses to leave.

Throughout the summer, both the media and the board have said that the wage bill is a massive problem for the club, which is why it had to be reduced. This also comes with the implied criticism of the previous regime, who were the ones that handed these massive contracts to certain underperforming players.

Now, former club CEO Oliver Kahn has come out to set the record straight:

How do you respond when it is said that you and Hasan Salihamidžić paid very high salaries at FC Bayern and thus made Max Eberl’s work more difficult?

Oliver Kahn: “The salaries were always coordinated and approved with the CFO and the supervisory board. Everyone agreed. As in the past, the ratio salary costs to turnover was below 50%. This is a top value compared to other European clubs, where it’s sometimes 80% or more. Every club that has won the Champions League in recent years has far higher salary costs than FC Bayern.”

Frankly, he’s not wrong. Fans have been a little bit baffled by Bayern’s desperation to offload players this summer, given the healthy financial situation of the club. Even if certain players are on overvalued deals, it didn’t justify the manner in which De Ligt was sold, or the club’s current behavior with Leon Goretzka.

So, what is actually going on behind the scenes? What is Max Eberl plotting? We’ll have to wait and see if all this cost cutting has a major purpose — so far, it’s simply been business as usual (on the transfers front).

Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich’s upcoming start to the Bundesliga season, the club’s treatment of Kingsley Coman and Leon Goretzka, plus some thoughts on why Paul Wanner’s development at Heidenheim will be a story you should follow this season? Great, then check out the show on Patreon, Spotify, or below:

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