FC Bayern: Salihamidzic gives insight into Mané transfer and Ronaldo offer

Bavaria’s sports director gives insights

FC Bayern has spent a total of 137.5 million euros on the transfer market so far this summer, effectively breaking the German spending record for a summer if the agreed bonus payments are added in the future. With a fixed transfer fee of 32 million euros, the second-largest amount went to Sadio Mané (30) – an international top star. A second would have liked to come to Munich with Cristiano Ronaldo (37), but was rejected. Sports director Hasan Salihamidzic spoke in more detail about the reasons for this decision in the podcast “Phrasen Mäher”.

“When you now see how our offensive is manned – even without Robert Lewandowski – it’s just difficult for us to implement something like that, both from a sporting and a financial point of view. We have eight players for the four positions,” explained the 45-year-old, going on to say that the club had strictly implemented an internal plan of which the Manchester United pro was apparently not a part.

“Sometimes you have to reject things or not do them because we have seasoned players who are in the prime of footballing age. We also have talent that we want to give playing time to, so we all agreed to go through with our plan. So that was out of the question for us, also because we don’t have the options from our budget.” Ronaldo’s salary alone would blow up the structure: The Portuguese should earn 29 million euros net per year with the “Red Devils”. Salihamidzic and Bayern are therefore “very happy with the positions we have and the competition is very good”.

FC Bayern’s Salihamidzic on Haaland – “It didn’t work out for various reasons”

Borussia Dortmund’s former attacker Erling Haaland (22) was also traded with the German series champion, Bayern kept a low profile for a long time – but negotiations were taking place in the background, as Salihamidzic said. “We’ve had a few talks, of course, that’s no secret. We had things in mind that we could do. In the end it didn’t work out for various reasons. I don’t want to blame the player for that either. He has decided on something that he thinks is better for him,” said the ex-professional about the second most valuable player in the world with a market value of 150 million euros, who decided to join Manchester City.

However, Salihamidzic does not mourn a missed opportunity: “I think we made good decisions. Of course we’ll see after this season or two. But the guys we have here are exceptional.”

FC Bayern: Mané-Poker started in Salihamidzic’s garden

Since this summer, the aforementioned Mané has also been part of the series champion’s squad. It all started in the garden of the sports board, where he sat with Björn Bezemer and Daniel Delonga from the consulting agency “ROOF”. “We talked about Serge Gnabry, among other things, because he hadn’t extended his contract yet, and then we talked about the market and the players they have – that’s when Sadio’s name came up. I noticed that there is a possibility to have a conversation. And that’s when I thought: Now it’s going to get interesting.”

Salihamidzic continues: “When he (Bezemer, ed.) left, I asked him at the exit: ‘Are you really serious about Sadio?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I think there’s a chance.’ It was important for me to talk to him personally. I asked him when I could talk to him and he said, ‘I’ll talk to him, but maybe tomorrow?’ Ok, then I’ll fly to Liverpool. It didn’t work out the next day, but it did the day after that.”

The former Liverpool man was immediately convinced, even without the financial issue being an issue. “Then I accelerated,” said Salihamidzic. “I visited Björn Bezemer in Mallorca, where he lives. That was the first time we talked specifically (about numbers, ed.). We ate something and laid the foundation for the transfer.” Mané, the most expensive over-30 transfer in the club’s history, finally signed a working paper in Munich dated until 2025, which is said to bring him 22 million euros per season.

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