After delivering a much more organised summer transfer window, Bayern Munich rewarded a couple of their key executives with new contracts. Max Eberl and Christoph Freund had their contract extensions approved by the supervisory board. Both are expected to stay at Bayern at least until 2029.
The club's CEO, Jan-Christian Dreesen, also signed an extension until 2029. The board members gave the final green signal to these three extensions during the general meeting in September.
While Freund and Dreesen were always expected to sign a new deal, Eberl’s future at Bayern was far from certain. The club chiefs were not completely convinced about him, which led to speculation about his long-term future. However, Uli Hoeness squashed this speculation during the summer by publicly backing Eberl.
Despite Hoeness’ public backing, the supervisory board was not collectively inclined to keep Eberl at the club. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge decided to abstain from voting for Eberl’s extension. In an interview with AZ, Rummenigge insisted that all the public posturing around Eberl’s future irritated him in the build-up to the final decision. Rummenigge had decided to vote against an extension for Eberl, but at the last minute he abstained.
"Something about the discussion irritated me. The impression was created that the presidential Committee had already decided on the extension and merely passed it on to the other four Supervisory Board members. That’s not how it works. The Committee can make a recommendation, but the decision is made by the entire Supervisory Board. I had no problem with the recommendation itself, but I did have a problem with it being leaked and presented as if the decision had already been made."Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Eberl needed a strong summer to get a contract extension
After a chaotic transfer window in 2025, the pressure was on Max Eberl to get things right this summer, along with Christoph Freund. It was a far from ideal start for them as they missed out on their top target in Anthony Gordon. The English forward ended up joining FC Barcelona from Newcastle United.
However, Die Roten responded strongly by wrapping up deals for Nathaniel Brown and Ismael Saibari at the start of July. Bayern concluded their business before the start of the pre-season tour of Asia.
Eberl and Freund also did well when it comes to raising funds by parting ways with fringe players. Sacha Boey was the only fringe player who didn’t leave Bayern in the summer. Eberl has also been criticised for handing out big salaries during contract extensions of several senior players over the last 18 months. In hindsight, it is fair to say Die Roten had to pay big to keep these players.
The former Gladbach sporting director has built a team for Vincent Kompany that can challenge on all fronts this season. The last two seasons under Kompany have been successful for Bayern. Eberl deserves credit for getting the Belgian to Bavaria after Thomas Tuchel left in 2024. Considering his overall tenure until now, there are more pros than cons of having Eberl at the club.
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