The last day on which professionals can be bought and sold in the Bundesliga is hectic. But could a club still surprise with a sensational transfer?
The summer sales for football professionals began with a clear announcement from FC Bayern Munich. National player Jonathan Tah is not coming, nor is any other player, announced sporting director Max Eberl on the morning of “Deadline Day”, when agents and clubs – accompanied by excited media – wanted to get things done in an increasingly hectic atmosphere. So calm in Munich – and at the other clubs in the Bundesliga and 2nd division?
The transfer experts were obviously the ones who were most stressed, constantly sending updates to interested fans via social media. Will Mahmoud Dahoud, a multiple national player who was loaned from Brighton & Hove Albion to VfB Stuttgart in the second half of the season, be moving to Eintracht Frankfurt at the last minute? Eintracht provided the answer in a statement on Friday evening at around 9 p.m., one hour after the end of the transfer window: Dahoud’s move to Frankfurt is complete.
Union Berlin was responsible for the transfer that got the most talk on “Deadline Day”: The managing director of professional football, Horst Heldt, confirmed the departure of Robin Gosens to the streaming service DAZN before the match against FC St. Pauli. “Until ten past four, I assumed that Robin would be on the pitch and playing today. Then the news came and then we implemented it,” Heldt explained the process on Friday afternoon. Where Gosens would go was initially still open. According to media reports, the 30-year-old is moving to AC Florence.
The Tah case
However, there was no big sensational transfer. A signature from Tah in Munich would have gone a long way in this direction, if only because those responsible had repeatedly made public statements in recent weeks.
In recent weeks, he felt he had been “made fun of and portrayed in a light” that did not correspond to the negotiations behind closed doors, said Eberl, who had been approached by Leverkusen decision-maker Fernando Carro (“Well, I think nothing of Max Eberl, absolutely nothing”). Carro had apologized for this – but the transfer of the Leverkusen leading player to Bayern still did not take place.
Eberl said that at the end of the transfer window he had asked Leverkusen again about Tah in case Bayern could still sell and thus have money for the defender again. “Leverkusen did not agree to that,” said Eberl: “It’s nothing bad, they are discussing, negotiating, trying.”
The last-minute search for reinforcements
The top Bundesliga teams from Munich, Leverkusen, Dortmund, Stuttgart and Leipzig had been negotiating diligently in the past few weeks, so that emergency purchases on the last day were no longer absolutely necessary. Defender Mohamed Simakan is leaving RB for abroad. According to reports, he is heading to Saudi Arabia. In return, Lutsharel Geertruida came to Leipzig from Feyenoord Rotterdam for a transfer fee of around 20 to 25 million euros.
The two Bayern transfers of Michael Olise (53 million) and João Palhinha (51 million euros) remained by far the largest investments in the Bundesliga. The most expensive sale is that of Dani Olmo from Leipzig to Barcelona for an estimated 55 million euros. Olmo was also the reason why long-time national player Ilkay Gündogan had to leave the financially struggling Catalans and returned to Manchester City.
“Squad planning is a puzzle of people, and people with emotions, feelings, strengths and weaknesses, that is not easy,” said Eberl. “I always like to describe it with an orchestra that is put together, and if the flute plays wrong, the whole orchestra is ruined…”
International showdown
In Madrid, the orchestra theory can currently be observed with the most spectacular new signing: Kylian Mbappé, whose free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain to Real was confirmed long, long before the deadline day, has still not scored a goal in the Primera División. In order to remain competitive, Real’s city rivals Atlético Madrid paid around 75 million euros for the services of Argentine world champion Julián Álvarez from Manchester City.
Man City’s Premier League rivals Chelsea FC have attracted scorn and ridicule for a time because new players were constantly coming in but no one was leaving. The prominent Belgian Romelu Lukaku moved to SSC Naples shortly before the final day, with a significant loss in value in the transfer fee. There are “neither major upward swings nor a trend towards slimming down at the clubs,” wrote former Bundesliga manager Fredi Bobic in his “Kicker” column. What is striking, however, is “again the many loans with purchase options or purchase obligations.”
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
