As the disappointing summer window continues with no quality additions and replacements signed in the last month, Bayern Munich stakeholders have begun questioning the competency of the front office. Despite just reclaiming the Bundesliga title last season, Bayern seems to be on a disconsolate, declining trend in recent years.
In the last five years, Die Roten has only overcome the Champions League Quarterfinals barrier once, let alone having a chance to compete for the most precious trophy in European club football. The results in the domestic campaigns over the last few years have also indicated that the club's dominance spell in Germany may be coming to a halt.
Titles aside, Bayern Munich no longer exhibits the same degree of pull for young domestic talents and star players as before. Florian Wirtz, Desire Doue, and many other promising prospects have put their rejection stamps on Bayern's offers. The unprecedented number of failed transfers this window was a crushing blow. On the flipside, underperforming players at the club are still getting paid big money to disappoint. The poor responses from club executives, Max Eberl and Christoph Freund, were disheartening for the advocates to hear.
The lack of continuity
In an interview with Sky Sports (via iMiaSanMia), Bayern's legendary goalkeeper and club icon Oliver Kahn has analyzed the reasons why top players and coaches are increasingly disinterested in making a move to the Allianz Arena.
"Many coaches have come and gone. As a result, the philosophies and ideas have changed time and time again, as has the squad. It always feels like a constant shake-up. That naturally creates a kind of unrest."Oliver Kahn
Since the treble in 2019/20, there have been four different head coaches: Hansi Flick, Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel, and now Vincent Kompany. Looking even further, Pep Guardiola was the only head coach in the last decade to manage the team for more than two years. The constant changes in the dug-out prevent any formation of a stable philosophy. Head coaches at Bayern are often given too little time due to the impatience for immediate success or the clash with the supervisory board's strategies and philosophies.
Oliver Kahn, who was the CEO of Bayern Munich for a few years, also took accountability for this problem.
Unfortunately, a series of poor management decisions has made Bayern fans now reap the sour fruit. The result is the most ridiculed transfer window in recent memory. Bayern has grudgingly lost the status of a dream destination. Solving this issue calls for a thorough restructuring from top to bottom. It needs to start with stability and a clear philosophy coming from the board and the coaching staff on how to manage young players, wages, and tactics. From then on, it can be fixed at the player level. Success and authentic club identity are alluring scents to attract quality players.