“With ‘Basta’ you end a discussion. And that’s exactly what I wanted at the time, because two months ago we had neither an offer for Robert nor alternatives in prospect. The situation has changed fundamentally since then,” Kahn explains his rethinking.
All well and good, but let’s be honest: If you say a basta! out, then the situation doesn’t matter at all (unless FCB suddenly got into extreme financial difficulties).
He gives a Basta! although neither an offer has arrived nor that you had an alternative? Well, then every manager would have to be a Basta! say if another club would be interested in one of their regular players So for me complete nonsense from Mr. Kahn.
“For me, dogmatically sticking to something out of excessive stubbornness or because of your own ego, even though the framework conditions have changed fundamentally, is more of a sign of weakness. It’s always about what’s best for FC Bayern, for the club, the team and the fans. Against this background I evaluate things, that’s my job.”
That is absolutely correct! But then you can’t do Basta beforehand! pronounce. Now Kahn has not kept his word and has to row back vigorously.
Find it pretty amazing that Kahn made this mistake. You could have learned from BVB’s past alone, where Watzke also made a Basta! got carried away and ended up breaking his word too. This story hung (or hung) behind Watzke for a very long time. Actually, one would think that one would have known since then at the latest that one should express oneself more diplomatically as a manager. “We are planning with Lewandowski for the coming season and have no ambitions to sell him” would have been enough as a statement and still left a back door open if a sale suddenly went through. So you didn’t have any ambitions, but if the offer was so lucrative and the alternative looked so good that a sale would be the best thing for the club, then you wouldn’t have broken your word.
Kahn wanted to show hardness and buckled in the end.