It was announced last week that Bayern Munich would offer up one of its front office executives for each press conference to address transfers and contract situations.
Ahead of Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga opener vs. VfL Wolfsburg, board member for sport Max Eberl took the mic and was hit with several pertinent questions that arose during the summer transfer window.
With some of the recent injuries that Bayern Munich has sustained, Eberl was asked if the club was done with signings.
“When you plan a squad, you obviously envisage it without injuries. Of course as long as the transfer window is open, we keep our eyes open. But it’s not good to have a bloated squad. We also want to give our young players the opportunity to showcase themselves. Vinnie is working very well with them. Obviously it’s not nice that with Stani and Hiroki Ito, we’ve got a new signing and a returnee injured straight away,” Eberl said (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
The most controversial player sale of the summer was Matthijs de Ligt heading to Manchester United. In a a roundabout way, Eberl did address the online fan petition that was formed to keep the Dutchman at the club, but the executive said that sometimes moves have to be made for the team to evolve — both from a sporting and financial perspective.
“I understand that there are fan favorites, but we don’t make decisions based on fan favorites. We spoke to Vincent and made decisions regarding the squad. Of course we know how Matthijs performed, and we wouldn’t talk bad about him. But we made decisions regarding the defense, we wanted a left footed defender, that’s why we signed Hiroki. We spent money on Olise, Palhinha and Hiroki. So as a club you have to generate money. You can’t do like Chelsea and go into the season with 45 players. We spoke clearly to the player and made the decision, and that’s how it was,” said Eberl.
Finally, Eberl addressed Bayern Munich’s new role as the hunter, not the hunted in the Bundesliga head of the opener.
“Leverkusen fully deserved to be champions last season. They’re one of the favourites again but they’re not the only one. You’ve got Dortmund, Leipzig, Stuttgart and there’s always a surprise package. We want the title to come straight back to Munich,” Eberl remarked.
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