In his successful career, Thomas Helmer won titles with Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern, and the 1996 European champion even captained Bayern Munich for two years. Now the 58-year-old has commented on the current season of the German record champions – and put his finger in a wound.
With three games to go before the end of the German Bundesliga season, there is still high tension in the fight for the championship trophy. Serial winners FC Bayern, who in recent years have mostly walked to the title in superior fashion, are at the top, but pursuers Borussia Dortmund are only one point behind Munich. A circumstance that Thomas Helmer sees as being due to the fact that Bayern made a crucial “mistake” in the summer.
“The main reason for FC Bayern’s current situation is certainly that two world-class players have lost: Manuel Neuer at the back in goal and Robert Lewandowski in attack right up front,” Helmer explained in an interview with the “Abendzeitung”. “Of course, those responsible could not do anything about Neuer’s injury. But not getting a successor for Lewandowski was a mistake. A top-class player should have come, Bayern missed that. Of course,” complained the ex-defender.
Lewandowski moved from BVB to Säbener Straße in 2014 and impressed from the start as an outstanding scorer: in the 2020 Champions League triumph, the Pole scored 15 goals in ten games, and in 2020/21 he broke an age-old record of 41 Bundesliga goals set by Gerd Müller.
Although FC Bayern would have loved to keep the attacker, they finally let him move to FC Barcelona in 2022, but did not commit to an equivalent replacement.
Another reason why the Bayern leadership around sports director Hasan Salihamidzic and CEO Oliver Kahn recently faced a noticeable headwind. However, Helmer doesn’t think much of the idea of releasing the duo from their duties. If he were part of the Bayern supervisory board, he would continue to give Kahn and Salihamidzic a chance, says Helmer, citing the predecessors of the two ex-players as justification: “The footsteps of Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge cannot be filled at all, let’s not fool ourselves.”
An easy time is not in the house for the top of Munich. The club has long since confirmed that a new nine is supposed to come in the summer of 2023, but strikers of the caliber of Robert Lewandowski are in short supply on the market.
“First of all, Bayern is in a bad position because all the clubs know they need someone up front now,” Helmer puts his finger in the wound. For example, the SBU is said to demand over 100 million euros for the recently heavily traded Randal Kolo Muani from Eintracht Frankfurt. However, Helmer can well imagine the French in Munich.
The same applies to Leipzig’s Dani Olmo, who the Herford native “definitely” sees as a good reinforcement.
Helmer predicts “problems” at Bayern
Olmo could compete with veteran Thomas Müller in Munich. A personality that has also been much discussed recently. After the veteran found themselves increasingly on the bench under coach Thomas Tuchel, even farewell rumors circulated. Helmer assesses the situation as problematic.
“It doesn’t look like Thomas Müller is undisputed under Thomas Tuchel at the moment. And if Müller doesn’t play, there will always be problems. Of course, he can’t be satisfied with this situation.” Especially since the veteran 2023 had to put up with a few “slaps in the neck”.
Müller himself recently ridiculed speculation about a change on social media, but it’s no secret that the football business is fast-moving.