The question is rather: Why did Barcelona pay 45mil for a 33 year old?
Answer being: Because Barcelona are imbeciles
Proof being: the situation they maneuvred themselves in
I am certainly not going to back Barca's transfer policy, they paid an insane amount for Coutinho to play our bench and win a Champion's League medal.
If you are talking about the player, Bobby Lew has hit a stride wherein the team is built around his finishing. Not necessarily him as a player, but his finishing. If you want to argue that, fine, I'm open to it, but it is an absolute buoy of business to unload him right now. He should have won the BDO two years ago, and might be close the year after.
None of that matters.
Bayern are a business club. We recognize areas of need and spend where needed. We rarely overpay for players (Hernandez still hurts) but we take care of our own. We are very meticulous at player scouting, shy away from risk, and attempt to "fill the gap" with players who can do just that without causing either disruption with wages or the locker room norm. Look for Mane to leave in three years and we will play for a more traditional 9; nut maybe not. Nags likes to play with a retracted 3.
It stands to mention that when when COVID hit, we spent very, very little on wage increases or transfers. Suele left on a free, Alaba, too.
The Board was not happy about either of these changes.
Teams have building blocks. Ours were (after Ballack left) Ribery, Neuer, and Robben. Now that the coach is younger than I am, younger than Mueller, younger than Neuer, younger than a number of players. We approach it in a very Germanic manner.
Who do we keep, who do we want, who fills a gap? As much as I love Neuer, Mueller, and Bobby Lew, they are operating on borrowed time. The Core of any team has a decade of change. Thuram, Del Piero, Buffon, Nedved....
At the end of the day, it's business, it's not personal. Professionals know this. Elber, Pizzaro, Lahm, Kahn, Salihamidzic (who went to Juve), Hargreaves, Schweinsteiger, Demichelis, Boateng, Ze Roberto, Kroos (for a different reason), Gomez, Robben, Ribery......only a few of them actually retired as Bayern players. We are very absolute when it comes to: "Hey, we love you, but now is the time."
Every single player stepped aside to allow a spot in the 11 which is a decade Bundesliga winner and a really shrewd business model. We have the 50+1 Rule. It is HARD to compete with Man City, Juve, PSG, name a team. It just "is" hard to compete.
At the end of the day, the name on the front of the shirt means more than the name on the back.
Bayern knows this, that is why we let players walk so we can build from the back-end.
The joke in Germany is, "who will secure second place?"
This isn't because of Bayern, it's because of the issues all face and Bayern just happen to be better than most.
Letting Lewy walk is smart. As much as I hate it, it's the right call. Same with Mattaeus in '88, Schweini in 2015, and Makaay playing out his contract.
Play like the shirt means something versus the human wearing it. It sounds harsh, but that's how it works.
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He always wanted to play in La Liga and since Madrid is not an option, he chose the next best option.
Wrong.
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The name on the front of the shirt means more than the one on the back.