FC Bayern is extremely busy on the transfer market this summer. With Sadio Mané and probably also Matthijs de Ligt, the record champions have signed two crackers. Hasan Salihamidži? in particular can feel satisfied.
The story of Hasan Salihamidži? begins and ends with Uli Hoeneß. Like everything at FC Bayern. At the behest of the eternal patron, the previous brand ambassador and hard-working ex-soccer player of the record champions was promoted to the position of sports director on July 31, 2017. With all due respect, he was initially only the star intern of the big alpha animals. At no time was that as clear as at the press destruction conference by Hoeneß and Co. on October 19, 2018. The big boss and his friend-enemy Karl-Heinz Rummenigge thundered after critical reports about coach Niko Kovac and the club in a historic fit of rage the media away, while “Brazzo” could only marvel.
Now, five years after his introduction to the record champions’ sacred plane, things have changed. Salihamidži?’s assessment is different. He is no longer the man who desperately tries to step out of the gigantic shadow of the Bavarian alpha legends, he is no longer the man who is ridiculed and hostile. Hasan Salihamidži? is perhaps the most admired (football) man this summer. It’s been a long journey for Brazzo. A journey full of obstacles and, yes, mockery. And its change is not constant, but lightning-like. That’s perhaps the most amazing thing about the Bosnian’s rise.
Because just a few weeks ago, the situation was different. Reports had come up that conjured up a quick end for the 45-year-old. With the former Mönchengladbacher Max Eberl, who had been trained as a player at FC Bayern, a successor has already been offensively positioned by several sides, at least in the media. In the grueling transfer saga surrounding Robert Lewandowski, Salihamidži? was chosen by many fans as the bogeyman.
According to the subtext of the criticism, the sports director is weakening the squad for the third time in a row. He had already lost Niklas Süle to his eternal rival Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer and had had to let a complete defense (David Alaba, Javi Martinez, Jérôme Boateng and Süle) go without a transfer within a very short time. In the pandemic, with all its financial consequences. FC Bayern threatened to be left behind internationally. There were even warnings from the club. However, not connected with public criticism of the sports board. There was plenty of hailing elsewhere. At a championship party, he was hissed at by his own supporters. Uli Hoeneß was shocked and talked his man down again. Well-intentioned, but somehow also fatal in the public eye.
Because Salihamidži? got stuck in the status of being a favorite of the still most powerful Munich. He badly needed a release. On the transfer market. And he succeeded. With Sadio Mané he brought a world star to Munich. Nobody really believed him capable of that. When the first rumors of an interest surfaced, they were no more than an amusing summer slump. But FC Bayern and “Brazzo”, as he is no longer called, delivered.
Now Matthijs de Ligt is coming too. A new boss for the shaky defense of coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team. Up to 80 million euros are due for the Dutchman. A massive sum for a central defender. But the example of Liverpool FC shows how well invested the money is for such a sovereign in the center. With Virgil van Dijk (he forms the duo in the central defense with de Ligt in the national team), the team developed into a great power in European football. The “Reds” did what FC Bayern should do again. This is the claim and desire of the management.
However, the multi-million dollar coup with de Ligt also raises questions. Didn’t the people of Munich complain in the spring that it was difficult with the big money? That creative solutions are needed? The club has of course generated income, there is 50 million euros for Lewandowski, and the rather flopped Marc Roca and Omar Richards were also sold at a profit. But the wild intoxication on the transfer market does not want to match the surprising self-confessions from spring.
So be it. The people of Munich have made one, sorry, two strong statements. Salihamidži? has given up his reticence on the transfer market. He got into a heated argument with ex-trainer Hansi Flick about this. The publicly held cadre dissent between the sports director and today’s national coach drove the club to the brink of collective despair. Flick lost the fight. Salihamidži? had the damage. But he just stayed. Flick left and can now fall back on the extremely productive pool of all German players. He is now training Germany and no longer FC Bayern Germany, which Hoeneß once called out.
The new Bavarians around Titan Oliver Kahn and Salihamidži? are thinking ahead. Your stars are international. If the national players should also play in other clubs, they should sign up with rivals Borussia Dortmund, who, after a dramatic change of course under the new sporting director Sebastian Kehl, signed three potential starting eleven candidates for the World Cup in Qatar this summer. Bayern Munich under the new bosses, under Salihamidži? and CEO Oliver Kahn, is not a regional project, it is a global brand. And what does a global brand do? She commits world stars. Spurred on by the embarrassing defeat in the Champions League against a village club from the Spanish league.
“This Villarreal still stinks to me, but that always leads to a ‘now more than ever’,” Kahn chatted out of the box this weekend. Such a humiliation should not happen to Bayern again and that requires open-heart surgery. One that is not without risk. The thing is.
First: FC Bayern Munich becomes German champion. This has been a fact and a minimum requirement for ten years. Second: FC Bayern Munich gets the national double. That actually has to happen. Third: FC Bayern Munich is at least champion and reaches at least the semi-finals in the Champions League. Otherwise it will be tight for coach Julian Nagelsmann, who is under a lot of pressure after Bayern’s transfer offensive.
Nagelsmann has received the delivery order. And, as you have just read, there is a gigantic task ahead. He has to integrate the new stars as quickly as possible, while spreading the goal burden – Lewandowski’s share of all goals was always over 30, sometimes even over 40 percent – on new shoulders and must not allow himself any weak periods. A new storm giant does not seem to be in sight. The people of Munich have no interest in Cristiano Ronaldo. Harry Kane does, but he’s too expensive this summer. Internally, according to the “Kicker”, the alarm has already been sounded and the season prepared for a difficult and challenging one, but that cannot be sold publicly. Bayern have to keep delivering, and Hasan Salihamidži?, the new best sports director in the league, made sure of that.
“WHO WILL BE GERMAN CHAMPION BVB BORUSSIA, WHO WILL BE GERMAN CHAMPION ONLY THE BVB”, tweeted his son, Nick, after the last transfer coup to de Ligt and put a few laughing smileys at the end. But as quickly as the Vancouver Whitecaps second-team footballer started his mockery, the tweet disappeared just as quickly. The Salihamidži? team delivered. As never before. Uli Hoeneß will be proud of this most amazing of all developments on Säbener Straße.
