FC Bayern Munich has already made some well-known transfers in its long history. Last but not least, Harry Kane’s move to FCB caused a stir. But the best stories often came from the deals that didn’t work out.
There were numerous near-transfers that slipped through the fingers of FC Bayern – sometimes consciously and intentionally, sometimes to their own detriment. Here are the 20 best almost moves to FCB.
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DIEGO MARADONA
Bayern were once in advanced negotiations with the Argentine superstar when he was still under contract with FC Barcelona (1982-84). “We were already pretty far along and would have done crazy things financially,” revealed Hoeneß.
He couldn’t remember why the transfer failed. At Lothar Matthäus’ farewell game, Diego finally wore an FCB jersey.
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CHRISTIAN KAREMBEU
The French world champion from 1998 could have moved to FCB several times. “I had several concrete offers from Munich, once the negotiations were well advanced, but no agreement was reached,” he told kicker.
Karembeu played for Nantes, Sampdoria, Real Madrid, Middlesbrough, Olympiakos Piraeus, Servette Geneva and Bastia during his career.
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ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC
In 2001, Bayern were very interested in the then 19-year-old Swede, who was still playing for his hometown club Malmö FF. According to his youth coach Björn Andersson, the Swedes wanted to collect a fee of eight million euros.
“Bayern said: ‘We won’t pay that much money for a youth player,'” said Andersson. Uli Hoeneß said this in his role as a TV expert on RTL: “He’s a great player, but his salary demands were also divine. We were once interested, but didn’t even get to the main course.”
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KAKA
Wolfgang Dremmler, former chief scout at FC Bayern, saw the midfield strategist on his debut for FC Sao Paulo. “I called Uli and said: ‘You have to come, it’s unbelievable what’s happening here.'”
However, all squad positions at the record champions were filled, so a transfer in 2001 did not take place. Two years later, Kaká moved to AC Milan for around 8.5 million euros.
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DECO
In the summer of 2004, Bayern put out feelers for FC Porto’s midfield strategist. “The Deco is one for FC Bayern,” said Franz Beckenbauer at the time. “It was supposed to be Bayern. My agent told me what they wanted to give me. Everything sounded good. I already saw myself as a Bayern player back then,” Deco is quoted as saying in the book “The Godfathers of the League”.
However, Deco’s agent Jorge Mendes offered him to FC Barcelona with the help of a CD. Bayern then dropped out of poker because Barca put 21 million euros on the table.
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SERGIO AGUERO
The striker, who had to end his career in tears due to heart problems, revealed via Twitter how he fell through Bayern’s scouting in 2006.
“Bayern Munich came to see me in a game against Estudiantes de la Plata. I played terribly and they were excited about José Sosa. They bought him,” Agüero wrote during a Q&A.
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GENNARO GATTUSO
The Italian hotshot from AC Milan was the preferred candidate when Jürgen Klinsmann joined FC Bayern in 2008. The parties were already very far along.
Gattuso said: “Bayern and I agreed 95 percent. But then President Berlusconi and sports director Galliani made it clear to me that Milan is my sporting home.”
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RAPHAEL VARANE
Ex-FCB professional Willy Sagnol was commissioned in 2011 to observe the then 18-year-old at RC Lens. The central defender would have cost “four to five million euros”.
According to Sagnol, those responsible did not want to pay so much money for a young player. Varane moved to Real Madrid in 2011 for ten million euros, while Bayern brought in Jérôme Boateng for 13.5 million euros.
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NEYMAR
When Pep Guardiola moved to Munich in 2013, he wanted to sign the Brazilian from FC Santos. Since FCB had previously had bad experiences with Brazilian talents under Breno, Neymar was rejected.
“Guardiola had certain ideas about buying a young Brazilian player. But we weren’t so well placed with young Brazilians in the past,” Hoeneß recalled of the conversation.
In the summer of 2023, according to a report in the British newspaper The Independent, Neymar tried very hard to get a transfer within Europe and offered himself to numerous clubs. FC Bayern is said to have been among them, but they declined. Neymar eventually moved to Saudi Arabia.
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MOHAMED IS WRONG
The Liverpool striker was once even offered to FCB – according to Sport Bild in 2015 and 2017. Both times FCB did not want to meet the demands.
Liverpool then paid 42 million euros in the summer, brought the Egyptian from Roma and thus landed one of the best deals in the club’s history.
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OUSMANE DEMBELÉ
Bayern wanted to bring the Frenchman from Rennes in 2016. “The interest in Dembélé was very specific,” said Michael Reschke, Munich’s former technical director, in the Bild podcast “Bayern Insider”.
That’s why Reschke and Rummenigge were in France. But the offensive player didn’t want to block his path to Barcelona by moving to FCB. BVB was then “a welcome springboard” to Barca, said Reschke.
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KHVICHA KVARATSKHELIA
In April 2018, the Georgian graduated, according to information from SPOX and GOAL a trial training session at the FC Bayern Munich campus. Despite convincing performances, a transfer for the then 17-year-old failed.
The now 22-year-old from SSC Napoli, who is one of the best offensive players in the world, was open to a move to Munich at the time. However, Bayern did not pursue this consistently enough.
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ANTOINE GRIEZMANN
In 2019, the attacker moved from Atlético Madrid to FC Barcelona for a fee of 120 million euros. Before that, the FCB had also knocked on the door of the now 32-year-old. “Yes, he was an issue,” Michael Reschke revealed to Sport1.
“We also wanted to sign him with Leverkusen when he was still playing at San Sebastian. But that was economically unrealistic. We also asked Bayern,” said Reschke. However, finances were also a problem at FCB.
Reschke met with Griezmann’s agent in Madrid, but “this is a classic Bayern-Munich issue. By German standards, Bavaria has an extreme economic advantage. Internationally, Bayern is not one of the absolute top buyers.” Accordingly, the general conditions for a transfer to Munich “could not be solved,” said Reschke. “There was no chance of getting him. It wasn’t economically possible.”
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IVAN RAKITIC
Bayern were interested in him in 2019, but a transfer did not materialize. “It’s a shame,” the Croatian said in retrospect to Sport1: He would have “loved to play for FC Bayern. They’re one of the biggest clubs in the world.”
Instead, Rakitic eventually left FC Barcelona a year later and joined Sevilla FC. So there was no reunion with Manuel Neuer – they both played together at Schalke until 2011.
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TIMO WERNER
Bayern would have only had to pay 25 million euros for Werner in the summer of 2019, and a year later it would have been 53 million euros. The striker even publicly offered himself to FCB.
Initially, however, coaches Niko Kovac and Hasan Salihamidzic rejected a suggestion from Rummenigge and Hoeneß. The following year it was Brazzo again who didn’t want to fulfill Hansi Flick’s wish.
“I believe that the path you take is always the right one in the end. I have had two coaches at Bayern so far who would have been very good for me: Hansi Flick, with whom I get on well. And Julian Nagelsmann, my former RB coach. But I think it’s good not to have regrets,” Werner told Sport Bild at the beginning of 2023.
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RODRI
As Sport1 claims to have learned, squad planner Marco Neppe and sports director Salihamidzic really wanted to bring the Spaniard to Munich in 2019. The two were enthusiastic about Rodri’s abilities; they observed him for a long time and also had concrete conversations.
But Rodri went to Manchester City for 70 million euros. Also because he met coach Guardiola there.
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FLORIAN WIRTZ
In January 2020, the midfielder moved from 1. FC Köln to Bayer Leverkusen with a lot of fanfare for a youth player. According to kicker, FC Bayern also apparently had a good chance of signing Wirtz back then.
However, Salihamidzic and Neppe are said to have not put enough effort into him. Instead, Leverkusen was more convincing in the negotiations with Rudi Völler.
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ERLING HAALAND
At the same time as Wirtz, in January 2020, the striker went from Red Bull Salzburg to Borussia Dortmund. And not to FC Bayern, which would obviously have been possible.
The kicker reported that the Norwegian “absolutely” wanted to come to Munich and that it would have cost “relatively little money”. Back then, BVB shelled out 20 million euros for Haaland.
At FCB they were apparently of the opinion that the goalscorer didn’t fit into the system. And that despite the fact that there were sufficient internal indications and statements at the Munich youth academy that Haaland would definitely have to be brought in.
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CRISTIANO RONALDO
According to the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, Ronaldo’s long-time advisor Jorge Mendes contacted FC Bayern, among others, in the summer of 2022 to explore a move. “Bayern or Chelsea or we’ll break up,” CR7 allegedly threatened.
According to the report, FCB was well aware of the value that Ronaldo’s brand would have had for the club. But then the Portuguese boycotted the first training session of the new season at his then club Manchester United. Bayern are said to have then informed Mendes that they were no longer interested.
Bayern’s then CEO Oliver Kahn told Bild: “We discussed the topic – otherwise we wouldn’t be doing our job well. Personally, I think Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest footballers that has ever existed on this planet. But we came came to the conclusion that, despite all of us’s appreciation, it would not have fit with our philosophy in the current situation.”
EDSON IS A FAKE
In the summer of 2023, it was assumed that the midfielder would move from Ajax Amsterdam to Borussia Dortmund. Nevertheless, there were always rumors that Álvarez was also a candidate at FCB – keyword “Holding Six”.
After the transfer to BVB fell through, the 25-year-old is said to have become the focus of Bayern again, as Bild wrote. FCB could certainly have met Ajax’s transfer demands. In the end, the Mexican moved to West Ham United for 38 million euros.
2023-09-13 09:28:36
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