The maker of FC Bayern talks about his announcement at the beginning of the transfer confusion – and threatens the competition.
Bayern Munich club boss Oliver Kahn justified the initially unplanned separation from striker Robert Lewandowski with the commitment of Sadio Mané. “A few weeks ago we didn’t have an offer for Robert, nor were we able to find a player of his quality,” he said after Saturday’s official presentation. For this reason he initially rejected the sale of the Pole with his “Basta”.
The starting position then changed “considerably”, explained Kahn, “in Sadio Mané we have now signed an absolutely world-class player who can play anything on offense”. In addition, with the transfer fee, which is said to be 45 million euros plus five million euros in additional payments, FC Bayern now “have the opportunity to see what else is happening on the transfer market. We continue to monitor everything that is possible”.
Distribute Lewandowski goals “on several shoulders”.
Sport director Hasan Salihamidzic sees FC Bayern in a very good position despite the departure of Lewandowski. It is true that the “40 to 50 scorer points” of the accurate attacker have to be replaced, but these now have to be “distributed over several shoulders”. “We have a lot of good players who can play several positions, we’ll let them go,” said Salihamidzic.
After Serge Gnabry extended his contract until 2026, Kahn is not worried about the offensive players Mané, Gnabry, Thomas Müller, Jamal Musiala, Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sané and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. “If I were the opponents’ coach, I would worry about how this team plays. We have a lot of flexibility, you can create a lot of surprises for the opponents and that’s what football is about.”