Uli Hoeneß on Bayern Munich’s transfer policy: “I would like to bring Florian Wirtz to us if there was a chance. But that’s what football fan Uli Hoeneß says, not the Bayern man.”

In partnership with

Get German Football News

·24 de febrero de 2025

Uli Hoeneß on Bayern Munich’s transfer policy: “I would like to bring Florian Wirtz to us if there was a chance. But that’s what football fan Uli Hoeneß says, not the Bayern man.”

Imagen del artículo:Uli Hoeneß on Bayern Munich’s transfer policy: “I would like to bring Florian Wirtz to us if there was a chance. But that’s what football fan Uli Hoeneß says, not the Bayern man.”

Speaking to kicker to celebrate Bayern Munich’s 125th anniversary, Uli Hoeneß commented on their transfer policy and what it is likely to look like going forward as they battle sovereign wealth-owned clubs.

Despite Bayern being one of the biggest clubs in the world, the direction of clubs outside of Germany means they are unable to with the types of transfer fees paid by Premier League sides as well as clubs owned by nation states (Manchester City & UAE and PSG & Qatar) and sovereign wealth funds (Newcastle & Saudi Arabia). This means that die Rekormeister will likely have to adapt their transfer strategy going forward, something Hoeneß spoke on during his interview:

OneFootball Videos

“Contrary to the clubs financed by Abu Dhabi or Qatar, we have to develop players ourselves, that’s the most important thing. Just like FC Barcelona are doing at the moment despite their big financial problems”

This has already begun. Jamal Musiala, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Josip Stanisic are both involved with the first team and are products from the club’s academy, the Bayern Campus. While the club have also begun signing young players from other German teams to develop with Jonas Urbig joining in January and Tom Bischof joining in the summer.

However, Bayern continue to make big signings which may block the path of youth players. When asked if the club would continue to sign big players to flex their strength, the honorary president said:

“I’m against such sweeping generalizations. We always have to go for what makes us stronger. I would like to bring Florian Wirtz to us if there was a chance. But that’s what football fan Uli Hoeneß says, not the Bayern man.”

This isn’t the first time this month that Hoeneß has publically addressed Bayern’s desire to sign Florian Wirtz, especially with their Champions League tie on the horizon. These types of signings and comments could indicate that Bayern is trying to weaken their competition by signing their best players, on this accusation, Hoeneß comments:

“The best players usually play for the biggest competitors, that’s obvious. But Tottenham, where Harry played, are not our competitor, for example. In general, you can’t be so stupid as to want to weaken someone if you don’t also think that the player is making you stronger. It’s a logical side effect that it weakens a competitor.”

With the signings of Robert Lewandowski, Mario Götze, Dayot Upamecano and Konrad Laimer in recent years as well as Bayern’s history of this in previous decades, such as the poaching of Werder Bremen’s head coach Otto Rehhagel in the 90s, this idea is unlikely to change soon.

Elsewhere in his interview, Hoeneß addressed the possible election of the far-right party the AfD into the Bundestag (the interview was conducted before the election on Sunday 23rd of Feburary).

GGFN | Jack Meenan