By John Bagratuni, dpa
Bayern Munich’s signing of Germany defender Mats Hummels and Portugal starlet Renato Sanchez on a «Bavarian Super Tuesday» is a clear statement of intent for the next Champions League.
Berlin (dpa) – It took Bayern Munich just a week after their third straight Champions League semi-final exit to take measures to ensure it won’t happen again.
Tuesday’s signings of Germany defender Mats Hummels and Portugal midfield starlet Renato Sanchez is to close the holes that allowed Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann to score and see Atletico Madrid beat Bayern on away goals in this season’s last four.
While weakening a major domestic rival in the form of Dortmund by bringing Hummels back to his home town, Munich’s objective in the latest signings worth more than 70 million euros (79.7 million
dollars) is no longer limited to dominating the Bundesliga which they have just won a record fourth time.
The desire is to lift the Champions League trophy a sixth time after last winning the elite event in 2013.
«The Bundesliga is no longer the benchmark for the record champions, that’s the message of this Bavarian Super Tuesday. The benchmark is the Champions League alone,» the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) said in an editorial Wednesday.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung agreed, saying that Bayern invested the sums «no other Bundesliga club can afford» in order «to position themselves even better for the Champions League, the most important club competition in the world.»
Hummels, 27, who played at Bayern since boyhood until a 2008 move to Dortmund, will bolster Munich’s defence where he is to team up with Jerome Boateng as centre-back in front of Manuel Neuer – just as in the Germany team which won the World Cup in 2014.
The 18-year-old Sanchez rose to stardom in less than a year at Benfica and was praised by outgoing coach Pep Guardiola around Bayern’s Champions League quarter-finals against them as «far and away one of the best young players in Europe.»
He is to add depth to Munich’s midfield, highlighting that Bayern are bolstering the centre this time around as part of a strategic plan a year after strengthening the wings with Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman last summer.
The newcomers players have long-term contracts – just as others including Thomas Mueller, Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba, Javi Martinez, Boateng and Neuer – in a gradual reshaping of the team as the likes of captain Philipp Lahm, Xabi Alonso, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben are in the dusk of their careers.
The signings should also help Bayern to an easy transition on the bench from Guardiola to Carlo Ancelotti, who could become the first coach to lead three different teams to Champions League crowns after earlier success with AC Milan in 2003 and 2007, and Real Madrid in 2014.
«Bayern may no longer have this innovative Pep Guardiola as coach …
But they have a squad staffed two and threefold on every position apart from attack and goal,» the SZ said.
Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge hinted at this when he said the Hummels transfer «will increase the quality in our team even further»
and that of Sanches will «add even more strength to our team.»
The almost identical phrases are a clear statement of intent and «to impress this year’s Champions League finalists from Madrid, Barcelona and all these English (clubs) with their unlimited money,» according to the SZ.
Super Tuesday signings underline Champions League ambitions By John Bagratuni, dpa
Bayern Munich’s signing of Germany defender Mats Hummels and Portugal starlet Renato Sanchez on a «Bavarian Super Tuesday» is a clear statement of intent for the next Champions League.
Berlin (dpa) – It took Bayern Munich just a week after their third straight Champions League semi-final exit to take measures to ensure it won’t happen again.
Tuesday’s signings of Germany defender Mats Hummels and Portugal midfield starlet Renato Sanchez is to close the holes that allowed Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann to score and see Atletico Madrid beat Bayern on away goals in this season’s last four.
While weakening a major domestic rival in the form of Dortmund by bringing Hummels back to his home town, Munich’s objective in the latest signings worth more than 70 million euros (79.7 million
dollars) is no longer limited to dominating the Bundesliga which they have just won a record fourth time.
The desire is to lift the Champions League trophy a sixth time after last winning the elite event in 2013.
«The Bundesliga is no longer the benchmark for the record champions, that’s the message of this Bavarian Super Tuesday. The benchmark is the Champions League alone,» the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) said in an editorial Wednesday.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung agreed, saying that Bayern invested the sums «no other Bundesliga club can afford» in order «to position themselves even better for the Champions League, the most important club competition in the world.»
Hummels, 27, who played at Bayern since boyhood until a 2008 move to Dortmund, will bolster Munich’s defence where he is to team up with Jerome Boateng as centre-back in front of Manuel Neuer – just as in the Germany team which won the World Cup in 2014.
The 18-year-old Sanchez rose to stardom in less than a year at Benfica and was praised by outgoing coach Pep Guardiola around Bayern’s Champions League quarter-finals against them as «far and away one of the best young players in Europe.»
He is to add depth to Munich’s midfield, highlighting that Bayern are bolstering the centre this time around as part of a strategic plan a year after strengthening the wings with Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman last summer.
The newcomers players have long-term contracts – just as others including Thomas Mueller, Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba, Javi Martinez, Boateng and Neuer – in a gradual reshaping of the team as the likes of captain Philipp Lahm, Xabi Alonso, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben are in the dusk of their careers.
The signings should also help Bayern to an easy transition on the bench from Guardiola to Carlo Ancelotti, who could become the first coach to lead three different teams to Champions League crowns after earlier success with AC Milan in 2003 and 2007, and Real Madrid in 2014.
«Bayern may no longer have this innovative Pep Guardiola as coach …
But they have a squad staffed two and threefold on every position apart from attack and goal,» the SZ said.
Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge hinted at this when he said the Hummels transfer «will increase the quality in our team even further»
and that of Sanches will «add even more strength to our team.»
The almost identical phrases are a clear statement of intent and «to impress this year’s Champions League finalists from Madrid, Barcelona and all these English (clubs) with their unlimited money,» according to the SZ.
