Munich – Young stars like Erling Haaland or Jadon Sancho, who have matured into top players and top performers at Borussia Dortmund, are causing a sensation and interest all over Europe. With the transfers of Jude Bellingham and Giovanni Reyna, BVB also shows that they are still the top address for player jewels who want to take the next big step.
At first glance, however, it is not obvious to many that FC Bayern has been following a similar path for two years. Big star transfers like that of Leroy Sané somewhat distort the picture that shows the work of sports director Hasan Salihamidzic.
Chris Richards makes the start – Alphonso Davies as a masterpiece
The transfer of central defender Chris Richards came about through a media-present cooperation between FC Dallas from the American Major League Soccer (MLS) and FC Bayern. It was only in the form of a loan that the now 20-year-old moved permanently to the Munich team in January 2019. The fact that he was substituted on in the most important season game for the professionals against RB Leipzig almost two years later confirms once again what the then sports director Salihamidzic saw in him.
When Alphonso Davies was signed by FC Bayern on January 1, 2019, he was Bayern’s most expensive newcomer of the 2018/2019 season with a transfer fee of ten million euros. Other top transfers such as Leon Goretzka previously came to FC Bayern for free. Davies now has a market value of 80 million euros and is one of the most sought-after youngsters in the world. Here, too, “Brazzo” proved once again that it doesn’t always have to be the expensive star transfers that so many demand from him.
In the shadow of Sané and Hudson-Odoi – how Brazzo outshone Chelsea
After the first season under Niko Kovac, which ended with an early exit from the Champions League, the demand for new stars became louder and louder. After the infamous Hoeneß announcement, Salihamidzic had a hard time meeting the demands of the fans. In the end, the long forced transfers from Leroy Sané (Manchester City) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea FC) failed. Board boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said at the time on the edge of “SPOBIS “in Düsseldorf:”The only thing that Hasan would have liked to have done would have been this Chelsea player. ”
The fact that two talents actually switched from Chelsea to Munich at that time was almost lost in the tumult surrounding Hudson-Odoi and Sané. Today on Säbener Strasse people are more than happy that Brazzo prevailed on the advice of his chief scout Marco Neppe and lured Jamal Musiala and Bright Arrey-Mbi to Munich. Like Hudson-Odoi, Musiala was about to sign a long-term contract in London. “Everyone at Chelsea knew how good Musiala was,” says English reporter Nizaar Kinsella from “Goal” about him.
Outlook into the future: homework already done
Since it will probably take a while before talents from their own youth make the leap to professionals from the newly structured junior performance center, Brazzo continues to fill these gaps with highly respected talents from all over Europe. While Musiala has more or less proven himself with the professionals and Hansi Flick is firmly planning with him, Arrey-Mbi is to be hardened with the amateurs and also catch up with the professionals in the near future.
With the Portuguese super talent Tiago Dantas, who also plays in the second team and is often one of the best players there, Brazzo managed the next coup last summer at the request of Hansi Flick. At the same time, left-back talent Remy Vita moved from France to Munich, who has already scored two goals in seven games for the small Bavarians. But Brazzo also has national talents on his radar: In the summer, offensive all-rounder Armindo Sieb switched to the Munich U19 team, who made his professional debut in the DFB Cup.
Brazzo’s work does not go unnoticed within the league. “Musiala is a very great talent. Bayern bought some of them, “said Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann after the game in Munich. “I’ve always emphasized that they also make some good decisions in the offspring,” he added. Bavaria is well prepared for the future – also and above all thanks to Salihamidzic.
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