Uli Hoeneß of FC Bayern Munich has expressed his admiration for PSG talent Kylian Mbappe. The FCB President, however, noted that a player like Mbappe would still be too expensive for the record champion.
“I’d buy Mbappe right now. The player is great, but we don’t have the money,” Hoeneß said in an interview with the DPA. The 20-year-old moved to Paris for around 180 million euros. Hoeneß explained that the Bavarians would not break the 100 million euro barrier even in this transfer phase.
Even a sum like the 80 million euro for Lucas Hernandez could not have been imagined by Hoeneß “ten years ago”. But the Bavarians have done it: “Recently it was said that FC Bayern had no chance with its cautious transfer policy. Now we deliver, and people scream: How do you spend 80 million on one player?”
With regard to PSG, Hoeneß also noted the involvement of various external donors in football. The increasing replacements would also have to do with “foreign investors, oligarchs, American hedge funds and even entire states such as Abu Dhabi and Qatar entering the football business”.
Bavaria’s plan to be successful with German national players has not changed despite investments such as Hernandez or Benjamin Pavard. “At the DFB in Frankfurt, they should set up some candles so that FC Bayern has enough players ready for new successes,” Hoeneß said.
However, the 67-year-old sees this as given: “In the great 3-2 international match in the Netherlands, there were five Bayern players in the starting eleven, including only the older Manuel Neuer and four youngsters: Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Süle, Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry, all born in 1995. No other club had more than one player.”
FC Bayern is in the process of “delivering again” and the German national team is once again facing a successful phase. The next successful phase of FC Bayern will be with Oliver Kahn.
Hoeneß confirmed the former goalkeeper’s commitment: “It is currently planned that it will start on 1 January 2020.”
At the moment we are in “very good talks” with the top candidate: “We have someone here who has experienced football as a goalkeeper at the very highest level and at the same time is able to stand his ground in the economic arena. That’s what excites us.”
