The former FC Bayern sporting director had a good run…or did he?
In a wide-ranging interview for Sport Bild, Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidžić defended his record as Bayern Munich sporting director against charges that he was the man responsible for the current wage bill — which the club is trying to bring down.
“To be fair, you must always view that in the context of the time at which the individual contracts were signed,” Brazzo explained in comments captured via @iMiaSanMia. “We were Champions League winners, the best team in Europe, having won six titles in one season. Our task was to retain the key players of that successful team in the long-term.
“Even though it was a lot of money in the end, the players were at their prime footballing age — whether Kingsley Coman, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry, They all had offers from top European clubs. I don’t want to know what would have happened if we had had to let one of them leave for free. But the truth is that in the 2022 transfer window, for the first time in FC Bayern’s history, we earned more than €100 million from player sales. I always kept an eye on the club’s financial situation.”
That summer would prove to be Brazzo’s last as FC Bayern SD — and also his most active. Working with then-technical director Marco Neppe and then-coach Julian Nagelsmann, Brazzo oversaw the sale of Robert Lewandowski, Joshua Zirkzee, Chris Richards, Marc Roca, Omar Richards, and Tanguy Nianzou.
And he brought in five more: Sadio Mané, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Mathys Tel, and Ryan Gravenberch.
But, as he argues, the sheet was relatively balanced. Bayern was a big club waking from Covid-era austerity, having handled the financial impacts of the pandemic as well as any club.
“During my time at Bayern, we always maintained a balance between turnover, revenue, and costs; the club had a positive result every year, even during pandemic years,” Brazzo continued. “Every major player investment was agreed upon with the supervisory board. Salaries were often at the limit, but we wanted to offer fans an attraction, whether through new signings or extensions. It’s players like Alphonso Davies or Jamal Musiala that people go to the stadium for, just as they used to for Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben.
“And of course, we also made mistakes, as was certainly the case before us and will continue to do so in the future. Football is a risky business, but our error rate wasn’t so high, otherwise we wouldn’t have won 16 titles.”
Two things seem to be true: Bayern have a real situation with the wage bill now that the current sporting leadership is correctly working hard to address. And Bayern, under its past leadership, was not exactly working very differently than they are now — under pressure to succeed, and striving to balance competitive needs with the financial discipline the club has always operated under.
Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich’s home Bundesliga match vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach? Awesome, then check out our Bavarian Podcast Works — Preview Show where we break down the match-up, what’s going on with both teams, the injuries, the potential lineup, and also give a prediction on the match. You can get the podcast on Patreon, Spotify, or below:
Be sure to stay tuned to Bavarian Podcast Works for all of your up to date coverage on Bayern Munich and Germany. Check us out on Patreon and follow us on Twitter @BavarianFBWorks, @BavarianPodcast @TheBarrelBlog, @BFWCyler, @IredahlMarcus, @enadmo1135, @TommyAdams71 and more.
