Robben was injured the last weeks/months and is now again injured. Out for the rest of the season with another muscle injury.
FC Bayern 2015/16
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
I can't see him following Guardiola again. He seems to really like the club and he wasn't always first choice under Guardiola or has come close to fulfill his potential under Guardiola in the past 3 years. He really should try his luck under a different manager for a chance. If he really wants to leave, well, like you said, wouldn't be a big loss.
Such a shame, easily one of my favourite players to watch as a neutral over the past few years.
The Robben news is false, confirmed by the club. Sport1 really is shite.
Considering our recent track record with injuries and the ability to predict the length of injuries I will believe that when I see it.
actually, press officer Hörwick said that the "out until end of season" bit was false. Note he *didn't" deny something happened to Robben in yesterdays session.
Didn't Sport1 say that he'll be out for the rest of the season? Anyway, Bild jumped on it and said he might even miss the start of next season - I'm glad at least that isn't true. I don't really believe that Robben will be on the pitch this season again anyway, the club has been far too quiet on the update-front so far. Is he even back in team training?
Will Robben be at Bayern next season?
For sure. He has another year contract. But I could imagine that he quits his career end of next season when he has another season like this one.
to be precise, it was a tweet by one Sport1-man (Christian Ortlepp). Ortlepp, Twitter-name "OrtivorOrt" ("Orti on location") sports the title "Chief Reporter with an emphasis on Bayern München"
. Other media call him a person who "always tries to look more important than he actually is".2009, Ortlepp brought a new dimension to football punditry by pioneering a live broadcast of the first Bayern training of the season. Unfortunately, LvG didn't want to play ball and held a 90min speech behind closed doors instead, so all the three camerateams could film was Mr. Ortlepp standing on an empty pitch.
Ortlepp has apologized in the meantime "in case my news turns out to be wrong i'm sorry and happy fpr Arjen", he claims "two independent sources" had the info. I'm looking for the second one, but can't find it.
Press-Officer Hörwick actally said that Robben was training with the team as of Thursday (injury supposed to have happened on Wednesday)
I wouldn't blame him. He got the most out of a glass body. He did good for what he had to work with.
So what do you guys think, will Bayern pay the rumored 40M € to for Hummels to Dortmund or will they make him run down his contract instead?
There is no way Hummels will stay another season at Dortmund. I think it will be around €30m with Add-ons for trophies, etc.
And what's the mainreason for this exactly? I actually thought Hummels was one of these more and more rare players who'd stay loyal to his club all his career. I found it strange that when he first thinks about leaving Dortmund he chooses to go to their biggest rivals instead of trying another league. I'm sure there are other big clubs than Bayern chasing him...
Dortmund released a statment saying that Hummels wants to move to Bayern, there is no other club for him now. Hummels is a no go for Dortmund fans now (quite understandable) and I don't think the club would want to put eiter Hummels through that for a whole year, nor the fans.
I just think it's sad to see how Bayern year after year buy one of Dortmunds best players so easily. This way they're strengthen themselfs and weaken their main rivals which makes the league less exciting to watch cause Bayern are just too superior. Gøtze, Lewandowski and now Hummels. Who's next? Aubemeyang, Reus, Gundogan or maybe Mkhitaryan?
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I don't like it either, but it's still Bayern thinking about themselves and the state of the league in general. Unlike in the PL or La Liga there's only Bayern on top. Dortmund as of now can't compete with us when it comes to money and winning titles, as wealthy as the already are, and that's not a dig at Dortmund, because they did and are still doing a great job for years now.
Can we for once ditch that stupid legend? Bayern bought a total of one player so far from Dortmund out of a contract the last 10+ years, Götze - for more money than he proved to be worth. The money enabled BVB to get Auba, Mkhytaryan, and get Kagawa back. Lewa was end of contract and a goner. Götze possibly wouldn't have stayed either. Had Lewa gone somewhere else, Bayern would have gotten a different top attacker of the Agüero caliber. Which would have created a different situation in the Bundesliga just exactly how?
Bayern *has* more financial resources than BVB and *is* more attractive to top players, fact. Top european players will be headed towards Bayern, players who evolve into such will leave BVB. Whether the direct route is taken (Player from BVB->FCB) or the indirect (top player leaving BVB, different top player joining FCB) is really of little significance.
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That's why we keep enjoying watching football, don't we. Spending tons of money will only get you so far. Cue City, PSG, Leichester.
Getting them for free is even worse for the league. I don´t think Dortmund not being good enough is the big problem. It´s the appalling inconsistency and poor form of everybody else.There is simply nobody to take away points from Bayern and to a slighty lesser extent Dortmund.
In theory I agree and it's important for the league that the 2nd tier clubs start keeping their players no matter who's calling than just focusing on the players who moved to Bayern. No one cares that Wolfsburg dropped back into nowhere because De Bruyne moved to City for example, yet if he had moved to Bayern, everyone would argue we destroyed the league. Similar no one cares about how much the Vidal to Juve move hurt Leverkusen or how Bremen losing Diego, Özil, Mertesacker and Naldo to Juve, Real, Arsenal and Wolfsburg turned them from a top team to a team fighting relegation (I know Pizarro left to us, but then he was the one out of all of them, who's too old and too far past his peak to still play for a top team anyway; the other transfers hurt more). The real problem isn't that we buy top players within the Bundesliga, it's that none of the other clubs made the step up to become an elite club.
That being said, we shouldn't ignore the emotional factor and shouldn't sugarcoat the fact that 3 of Dortmund's top players moved to us in 4 years now. It's a fecking nightmare for the league and the Hummels transfer is probably the worst of them all considering how he portrayed himself, how he captained Dortmund and because he might really have decided between Dortmund and Bayern here and might have stayed at Dortmund if we didn't make him an offer. Also while there were actually good reasons to sign Götze (the German golden boy at the time) and Lewandowski (pretty much the only elite striker we could buy on the market), there's no such reason for the Hummels transfer. There are doubts about his quality, his focus and his injury record considering his form in the last 2-3 years.
We really weaken the league with this transfer, which hurts us longterm and we might not even strengthen us all that much with this signing compared to a young quality centerback from abroad, willing to fight for his place in the first team instead of an established player like Hummels who expects to be a regular starter. Hell, we might even realise that Benatia is perfectly suited to play under Ancelotti and the better partner for Boateng or that Badstuber all of a sudden can stay healthy. I really, really dislike this transfer and can't see anything positive about it.
No, I don't think we can. You say you bought a total of one player from Dortmund, do you think it's better to wait out a contract like you did with Lewandowski? Yea, right. Let's see what you'll do with Hummels now too...If Lewandowski had moved to PL or RM for example, there's not certain at all that you'd get a top attacker of the Aguero caliber. Who would that be really? You wouldn't get Aguero, cause they don't sell their best players like Dortmund often does. Just think about it; where would Dortmund be if they hadn't sold their best players to you?
Great post @Balu, I couldn't agree more!
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Three hugely important players in 3-4 years is not a "stupid legend".
2 so far. Also, let's not forget Kagawa and Sahin, Gündogan is openly toying with the idea of leaving, Auba and Mikhy secretly. That's another five who are/were intent to leave for greener pastures. Bayern evolved into the sexiest bride in Europe recently, so some of them ended up there, kinda naturally.
The contender teams *are* a shopping mall for the superclubs. Barca and Real buy domestiacally, as do United, Chelsea or City. Just watch Leichesters squad in 2 years time.
I'm critical, very critical, about Hummels. Herrmann the Tiger says he's ace, so i won't repeat my criticism about his class. I have doubts about his attitude. Which defence partner played well along his side? Santana, Subotic, they all faltered. Anyone remember a good German game where both Hummels and his partner looked good? To me it seems it was always either him or the other guy.
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It's going to be three soon. Either this is not as certain as everyone has been saying it is, or you're just trying to make it sound better than it is.
Yes, big teams take players of smaller teams. But the problem is that in the Bundesliga, compared to Bayern, every team is a bit of a small fish, which is the primary issue. Barca has Madrid. United have Chelsea, City and Arsenal. In the interest of the Bundesliga, the gap between Bayern and Dortmund needs to reduce.
What's your solution? How should this be done?
There's no easy solution to it, if we're talking about the financial gap. I do think we have a responsibility to 'protect' the league to a certain degree though and should think about the bigger picture a bit when it comes to transfers, because it really hurts us longterm. We have the chance to bring quality into the league from outside and we have a damn great track record in that regard over the last 5 years. We won the treble without buying a Dortmund player after all, it's not like we can't find quality elsewhere. Obviously there will be cases where it makes too much sense to ignore a player from one of the stronger Bundesliga clubs, e.g. Neuer or Lewandowski. But there has to be some limit to how many players we take from a club that challenged us and the impact a transfer has on the league needs to be considered. Also, in a way it really devalues our achievements if it's too much. Overcoming Dortmund on the pitch after they had won two league titles in a row was sweet and we did it independently from them, without any player transfers between the clubs. They even beat us to Reus and Dortmund fans became truely arrogant about their standing compared to us. It was great to put them back in their place on the pitch. Beating Dortmund to the league title with 3 of their former key players starting for us just wouldn't feel the same, at least to me.
It's perfectly normal that clubs buy players from their own league of course, it happens everywhere. And it's not uncommon for players to move between top clubs either. But there has to be some sort of balance to it if you want a healthy league and at least that's a part we can influence. One or two over a longer period? Fair enough, it makes sense and it actually fuels a rivalry a bit. 3 in 4 years? It's just too much.
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I agree that the Hummels transfer is not something we needed and that is has a bitter aftertaste, but even if we didn't buy Dortmund players anymore: Other teams would. Bayern isn't the only rich team in the world. So as long as Dortmund (or Leverkusen or whoever) can't protect themselves from getting their best players poached full stop, I just don't see what Bayern could do to prevent the gap to become bigger without sabotaging themselves. Any club could've bought Götze by using his RC, every club could've signed Lewandowski. Hummels seems to be a different case, but my point stands: Götze and Lewa (and Hummels?) would've left Dortmund anyway. At least we kept them in the league.
We could do it like Real and Atleti and have a gentlemen's agreement in place to not sign players from each other. So Dortmund's players would go to Manchester (either club), Arsenal, Real or Barca and Bayern would try to sign comparable players from outside the league. Nothing would be gained overall for the competitiveness of the league.
It's a difficult situation, but people make it sound like it's Bayern's fault that it has come to this. As if doing good business for a couple of decades is something deplorable, while the other clubs repeatedly fecked themselves over and now point their fingers at the big bad bully.
I agree with most of it and often pointed to the fact that players would have left Dortmund, Bremen, Wolfsburg, Leverkusen anyway, if we hadn't signed them. It's not our fault that there is such a huge financial gap, we worked hard for it and decades of great work compared to the shit that happened in Hamburg or Dortmund is the reason for it.
But again, we can't keep the emotional part completely out of the discussion because it has an impact on how football fans in the country and outside of Germany view the league, which then impacts tv deals, sponsorship deals and all that. And there are more transfers than just the ones that make way too much sense to ignore.
A gentlemen's agreement like Real and Atleti have makes no sense by the way. No idea why people bring that up as a comparison (it happened in the Hummels thread a lot as well). Dortmund aren't a traditional rival of ours and Real happily sign players from every other Spanish club, including Barca even though Barca caught up so much that it hasn't happened since Figo (but Laudrup and Schuster were huge deals before that). They definitely look at the well performing teams in Spain and instantly take their players. Barca isn't any different and could even attract Arda Turan from Atletico despite their transfer ban keeping him from playing for 6 months. A gentlemen's agreement would make sense with 1860 if they ever returned to the top, but that's not a discussion that makes sense right now.
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That wasn't really a serious suggestion, of course it'd be bollocks. It's just that apart from such a deal nothing will ever stop us from poaching great players as long as the other clubs don't get their act together consistently.
I'd appreciate it if we stopped doing it, but I can't really fault the club for its approach. Football Darwinism at its finest.
I´ll blame the club, if Hummels needs at least 6 month to find some form (exhausting tournament in the summer) while struggling with minor injuries. At the same time, Badstuber will be benched because of him.
The transfer of Lewandowski made a lot of sense, because Bayern couldn´t have gotten a similar attacker from anywhere else. The same applies - at least to some extend – to Götze (despite him not making it). Hummels on the other hand is such a random transfer and validates many clichés about the club. He is a great player, but he is hardly the only available solution to our problems.
It is not Bayern´s job to help other clubs, yet it doesn´t help anyone, if we undermine our biggest rival in such a way.
The transfer of Lewandowski made a lot of sense, because Bayern couldn´t have gotten a similar attacker from anywhere else. The same applies - at least to some extend – to Götze (despite him not making it). Hummels on the other hand is such a random transfer and validates many clichés about the club. He is a great player, but he is hardly the only available solution to our problems.
It is not Bayern´s job to help other clubs, yet it doesn´t help anyone, if we undermine our biggest rival in such a way.
Put it this way, if United could take Zouma right now how many would be against it? I for one wouldn't he looks to be a very good defender.
That's a very good point!
City did it also to Wolfsburg with Dzeko or with Hamburg (Kompany, De Jong)! Damn City destroying the Bundesliga!
They probably got paid by Bayern to do so ...
Anyways i think it's sad that the players still tend to leave uprising teams like BVB or Atletico. Both clubs totally have the potential to grow into an top elite club in future and become as big as clubs like Barca, Real, Bayern, United, etc. But as we see it's really a tough task.
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Increase ticket prices, get a larger TV deal, abolish the 50+1 rule. I'm not saying these things should be done but it would certainly help Dortmund and Schalke better compete with Bayern.
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Abolish 50+1 would not help the traditional clubs like Schalke and Dortmund with their fanbase as they will not give more than 50 % of their shares to investors. It just opens the gate for investments in club with a little fanbase - and I doubt that this is something any German football fan wants.
Nice thing, such an agreement, but wishful thinking. If a player wants to join a certain club (and the club is willing to hire him), theres nothing or at least very little to stop him. I'm almost sure such a clause, if it was implemented, could be challenged at a regular court, too.
Currently, word is out that there is such a gentlemen's agreement in place regarding Pep/City and Bayern. It wouldn't stand if, lets say, Thiago had made up his mind to follow Pep. It's the *players* that want to join these clubs.
At the end of the day, its the current UEFA system that stinks. It makes the big clubs unproportionally bigger with the revenue that can be generated by advancing far in the CL. Bayern hopped onto that train just in time by throwing away their old transfer policy in 2007 and hiring Toni, Ribery, later LvG and Robben. It gets tougher from year to year to join the closed circle of the superclubs. That also depends on the total TV revenue generated by the league and distributed among the clubs. Making 50Mio in the CL is a bigger deal for Bayern or BVB than it is for Chelsea, City or United, because it is a bigger percentage of the total income for them.
It is a misconception a single club could change this, by avoiding top domestic players in order to keep the own league competitive. Those players would move abroad and all it would do would weaken that club internationally.
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Your point? In PL you have at least 4-5 teams every season fighting for the title, and the topclubs rarely sell their best players to rivals. And even if they do, you never see the same team win the league year after year.
My point is that if you have a chance to weaken a rival and gain a good player then you must do it, ergo justifying Bayern's actions. We've done it before too with Berbatov and RVP.
Must do it? I don't think it's a must, but I guess it's a smart way to strenghten your own team, and at the same time weaken your biggest rivals, yes. Specially when you buy several of your rivals best players it'll be very effective. But when there's literally just those two teams who's fighting for the title, it gets pretty boring for the audience. In La Liga you got Barca, RM and AM who's fighting for the title each season, and it's not often you see those 3 teams buy players from each other, even though both Barca and RM has way more money than AM.