Bayern & Germany@iMiaSanMia
The supervisory board's critical view of Max Eberl's work started last year with a frantic search for a new coach, and the many rejections that followed (Xabi Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann, Ralf Rangnick). Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge felt compelled to intervene publicly. Added to that, in the view of some officials, the overpriced contract extensions (Musiala, Davies, Kimmich, Nübel) and failed transfers
A clear signal to Eberl is the prominent and public courting of Florian Wirtz by Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Hoeneß began talks with the player's father, Hans Wirtz, weeks ago. That undermines Eberl's standing, who has decades of experience in the industry and wasn't used to interference in his work at Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Bayern motto is: If the big bosses say something, you have to do it
Thomas Müller is also a point of discussion : While Eberl had not given the impression with his public statements that Müller's career at FC Bayern was coming to an end, Hoeneß initiated Müller's departure with his "substitute" statement. Eberl has to cut wages. The costly contract extensions are now supposed to be compensated for by Müller's departure. There's also the case of Leroy Sané. Eberl is keeping the talks going behind the scenes, but parts of the board and the supervisory board have been against another costly extension for weeks.
This isn't the first time negotiations have dragged on. The accusation is that Eberl made commitments regarding potential salaries, contract terms, and signing fees in talks with Davies' and Musiala's management without obtaining prior approval from the supervisory board. The same applies to the negotiations with Kimmich and Jonathan Tah. Eberl saw the need to sign Tah, reached a verbal agreement with him before last year's Euros, and negotiated the key details with his agent, Pini Zahavi. However, other officials and ultimately the supervisory board blocked a transfer, seeing no need for an additional defender
There's also been some 'quiet criticism' of various new signings, such as João Palhinha. Some consider him too expensive and, in any case, only needed to be brought over the finishing line after the transfer fell through a year earlier. Internally, there is also discussion about the expensive, mistaken signings of Bryan Zaragoza and Sacha Boey. Freund was primarily responsible for these
Eberl is highly credited with bringing in Michael Olise. However, the truth is: former chief scout Markus Pilawa had already scouted Olise before Eberl took office and played a key role in paving the way for his summer transfer
Another ongoing issue is player sales. There's also pressure on Eberl on that point, although he's not responsible for the big contracts of Gnabry, Goretzka, Coman..
Winning the league with Vincent Kompany, whom Eberl brought in, would strengthen him internally and ease the mood. What's also been noticed is that: With Kompany, Eberl has brought in a coach who fits the club well and who, with his confident appearances, brings calm publicly. Another point in favour of Eberl: no one who was supposed to extend his contract has left the club
The stagnating development of the Campus continues to be the focus of criticism. In particular, too few talented players from within the club's academy are making it into the first team, and too few talented youngsters are being discovered, as Hasan Salihamidžić once did with the discovery of Jamal Musiala and Alphonso Davies. The fact that only Stanišić and Pavlović have made the breakthrough in recent years, and none at all during Eberl/Freund's tenure, is not enough for some at the club
[@kerry_hau, @Plettigoal]
