Bayern Munich decided to make several changes at the board level after a disappointing last season on and off the pitch. The Bavarian club parted ways with Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic at the end of the season. Bayern had lined up Jan-Christian Dressen as a replacement for Kahn. They have now confirmed the successor for Salihamidzic too.
Die Roten has appointed RB Salzburg’s Christoph Freund as the new sporting director. Freund will not be taking part in the decision-making process this summer. He will start working in this role on September 1.
Freund is known for spotting young and promising talent at Red Bull group over the years. The Austrian has been working in the sporting director role at Salzburg for the past eight seasons. His good work at RB Salzburg also attracted interest from Chelsea last season. Freund was close to joining Chelsea, but the deal didn’t get over the line.
Bayern will hope Freund’s experience at RB Salzburg will help them to become even more efficient in the transfer market. They cannot compete with Premier League clubs for players, so it is necessary to become good at spotting young talent and getting them to the club at the right time. Freund will help Die Roten in achieving this objective.
Technical director Marco Neppe is expected to stay at Bayern beyond the ongoing summer transfer window. Neppe is expected to work with Freund in the player recruitment department. There has been speculation about Neppe’s future ever since Salihamidzic was sacked at the end of the last season.
Bayern was heavily linked with RB Leipzig Max Eberl for the sporting director role at the end of last season. The Bavarian club was in no rush to get a sporting director this summer since they had formed a strong transfer committee to take care of the business for one window.
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The record Bundesliga champions started the summer by completing free transfers of Konrad Laimer and Raphael Guerreiro. Laimer was a long-term target for Die Roten. He arrived from RB Leipzig, while Guerreiro joined from Borussia Dortmund. The Portuguese full-back previously worked under Tuchel at Dortmund.
Bayern sold Lucas Hernandez to Paris Saint-Germain last weekend. They completed the deal for Napoli’s Kim Min-jae on Tuesday. The Bundesliga champions are now pushing for the signing of Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur to strengthen their attack. Tuchel also wants to add a defensive midfielder and Kyle Walker to the squad before the end of the window.