Over years gone by, German giants Bayern Munich had developed a strong reputation for being a well ran club when it came to their business in the transfer market.
They signed Joshua Kimmich from RB Leipzig for 7 million Euros, Serge Gnabry from Werder Bremen for the same price, and Robert Lewandowski from Borussia Dortmund for free.
At the time, people will have wondered why they didn’t sign Miralem Pjanic instead of Kimmich, or Coutinho instead of Gnabry. Although the signing of Lewandowski was more proven, another club may have forked out on a player such as Gonzalo Higuain or Mario Manduzkic instead.
Elsewhere, they signed Alphonso Davies for around 10 million Euros from Vancouver Whitecaps – another club may have forked out on someone like Lucas Digne instead. All the other players mentioned are fine, but would have been much worse deals.
Yet, Bayern seem to have gone past that. Like many things with Bayern, their chasing of Florian Wirtz was very public, making it well known that they had over 100 million to spend. Instead, they were left embarrassed as he chose to go abroad – whilst everyone else now knows they had that money.
Their pursuit of Luis Diaz from Liverpool encapsulates that. The Merseyside club know Bayern have the money, and rejected their bid of 67.5 million Euros. Reports suggest Liverpool want 100m Euros or more. It would be very ironic if Bayern paid that, and basically gave Liverpool their money back for Wirtz.
Although Diaz is not a terrible player, who has had his moments both for Liverpool and with the Colombian national team, this is a very Juventus type signing to make. Not much sporting conscience behind it, just signing a player for the sake of it, perhaps being seduced by the name.
We have seen what has happened to the Turin club in recent years as a result. They have gone from winning nine league titles in a row, to not doing so in five years.
Whilst it is true that Bayern do need a left winger, it is better to sign nobody at all than it is to make a bad signing – particularly an expensive signing. Diaz will turn 29 next season, and has already lost some of his explosiveness through injuries.
Vincent Kompany’s side need a winger who can consistently stretch teams and make those runs in behind. It is very unclear whether or not Diaz is still capable of doing that. Most of his good performances for Liverpool last season came as a striker, a position he wouldn’t be playing at Bayern.
It is worth mentioning that the fact he can play as a striker is a bonus, as Bayern also need a back up player for Harry Kane. But their pursuit of Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart perhaps makes that point a moot one – albeit the German could play as a number ten.
The Bayern of a few years ago would have signed a left winger, but a different player. They definitely would have made more of an effort to sign Rodyrgo, whose future at Real Madrid is very up in the air.
Let’s see what happens, but this does not feel like the type of signing a smart club would pursue.
