Former Bayern Munich star Lothar Matthaus has criticised the club for their recent transfer strategy following the signing of Eric Dier from Tottenham Hotspur, and the reported move for former Spurs man, Kieran Tripper.
In a rather surprising turn of events this month, Bayern Munich opted to sign Eric Dier from Spurs on a six-month loan deal which has the option to turn into a permanent switch (ESPN).
This came to fruition after the German giants lost out in the race to sign Radu Dragusin from Genoa, with Tottenham ultimately getting their top target for the centre-back position.
Now, the Bundesliga champions are progressing in their pursuit of Kieran Trippier, too, as they look to solve their defensive issues in the right-back role (The Guardian).
Lothar Matthaus is not happy with Bayern Munich
These two transfers have been called out by Matthaus, who is not happy with the perceived lack of ambition his former club is showing in the transfer market right now.
He told Sky Sports: “Eric Dier wasn’t necessarily a key player at Tottenham recently. I remember Uli Hoeness once saying that, ‘We won’t be bringing in any more players who are sitting on the bench at other clubs’. The latest transfer looks different. Kieran Trippier would be a similar case.
“That’s not Bayern Munich for me. Bayern should focus on reinforcements or on the young players. Aleksander Pavlovic sat out against Bremen and wasn’t substituted. When he did play, he was always outstanding.
“Bayern Munich have very good youth players and Christoph Freund is responsible for that. He has a good network. In the summer it was said, ‘We can let Benjamin Pavard and Josip Stanisic go and get someone else instead’, and then they didn’t get anyone else.
“As a result, they’ve got problems at right-back and in the centre. They thought, ‘We’ll manage that’. No, they reacted too late. The team can’t find itself. The difference to Leverkusen: Xabi Alonso had his team together from the start in the summer and was able to train what he wanted for six weeks.”
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It does seem strange that a club of Bayern’s stature is moving for such short-term solutions, players coming towards the end of their careers, in order to bolster their squad. Maybe it’s just Harry Kane wanting his pals there, who knows?