Bayern is playing dead. Why does it refuse to negotiate with Barcelona?

Robert Lewandowski’s transfer saga seems to have died down. After the initial sharp statements, the situation has calmed down at least in the media, but we are still far from a resolution. One possible solution is that Bayern will eventually let the player go. For now, however, he refuses to talk to Barcelona, apparently Lewandowski’s preferred destination. Why?

FC Barcelona has already sent several offers to Munich. But Bayern has apparently not responded to any of them to date and is not in talks with the Catalan club. At first, it was thought that the initial offers were quite low. Barcelona, however, have reached deeper into their pockets and are said to be willing to send €50 million worth of compensation to Munich for the player.

But even that hasn’t tempted the Bavarians and they continue to play dead. Later reports suggested that Bayern were to demand the full amount in one payment.

Traditionally, transfer sums for players are paid in instalments over the length of the player’s contract at the new club. We can take Thiago as an example.

Liverpool are paying Bayern €5m for him each year of his four-year contract after paying an initial sum of around €10m. So the 25-30 million that Thiago was supposed to cost, Bayern will get in effect after 4 years, nice and piecemeal.

But for a club like Liverpool, there is no concern about whether they will be able to meet their commitments. With Barcelona, the Bayern management is not sure at all. And with good reason. Barcelona’s financial woes, solved by selling off its future profits (not only) for broadcasting rights already, of course at a lower price, or perhaps by refinancing loans for the umpteenth time with institutions that charge fat interest on the risk, are often and thoroughly described.

Into this has floated the as yet unverified information that Barcelona still owe Bayern some €950,000 for the transfer of Arturo Vidal in 2018.

One cannot wonder then that Kahn and co. are worried about whether FC Barcelona will even exist in two years’ time. With exaggeration, of course. After all, the criticism from Bavaria on the way the Catalan giant is run is not exactly small.

Source: Bundesliga