Have Bayern Munich lost their touch in the market?

Today’s transfer grades head to the Bundesliga, which produced some dramatic outgoings. Every team listed here had their biggest sale of the summer to a Premier League team, and in a couple of cases more than one massive outgoing to England.

Four of these teams have intelligently retooled with lower cost replacements from the European continent. And then there’s Bayern Munich, who made some very questionable choices.

Bayern Munich — Are they good at this anymore?

Total incomings — €94m

• Luis Diaz — €67.5m + €7.5m add-ons

• Jonathan Tah — €2m

• Tom Bischof — €300k

• Nicolas Jackson — Loan, conditional buy obligation (with a massive €16.5m loan fee)

Bayern Munich failed to get their main summer transfer target as Florian Wirtz went to Liverpool, so they seemingly decided not to make any other good signings in protest. They decided against going for Rodrygo after deeming him too expensive, but then dumped a not-too-distant amount on Luis Díaz, giving Liverpool another boost. Don’t get me wrong, he is a very good player who could well have a positive impact on the team, but I would not pay that amount for a 28-year-old with two years left on his contract. Nicolas Jackson also is the right profile to add some versatility to the squad, but both the loan fee and option to buy are equally insane.

Jonathan Tah is fine, but I’d have preferred to go for a more promising young centre-back. Tom Bischof on a near-free gets Die Roten half a letter grade from me, but how much of a contribution he can make in the short term remains to be seen. — NS

Kim: D | Moe: C- | Neel: D+ | Hayden: C-

Total outgoings — €103m

• Mathys Tel — €35m

• Kingsley Coman — €30m + €5m add-ons

• Paul Wanner — €15m

• Adam Aznou — €9m

• Eric Dier — Free

• Leroy Sane — Free

• Thomas Müller — Free

• 9 players loaned (with over €10m loan fees)

Moving Thomas Müller, Leroy Sané and Kingsley Coman on frees up about €50 million in wages by my estimation, while Bayern also got a decent fee of €30m for the French winger. Getting Spurs to pay a loan fee and with a buy option for João Palhinha is about as good as they could have done there, but those are all the positives I can come up with.

I’m assuming my colleagues have been a little kinder than I on Bayern’s outgoing grade because Mathys Tel shows up here, but I’m not giving them credit for that this summer because the deal was done in February. I think there was room for improvement on the fees of all the other youngster sales despite the inclusions of some buyback clauses and such, and you could even argue for keeping someone like Paul Wanner or Adam Aznou to keep squad depth while the likes of Jamal Musiala and Alphonso Davies are out injured, at least. — NS

Kim: C | Moe: B- | Neel: C | Hayden: B+

Bayern did not do a lot of business this summer and had some noteworthy departures, but their net profit still was not sizeable. They did target signings for areas of the squad that needed them, but their decision-making and fee evaluations were quite questionable. The Bundesliga holders also did not do too much to bring down the age of what is now the oldest squad in the division, so there are a lot of question marks to be raised around their work. — NS

Overall grade: C-

Bayer Leverkusen — Kinda wacky

Total incomings — €225m

• Malik Tillman — €35m + €5m add-ons

• Jarell Quansah — €35m + €5m add-ons

• Eliesse Ben Seghir — €32m + €3m add-ons

• Equi Fernandez — €30m

• Loic Bade — €25m + €4m add-ons

• Mark Flekken — €11m + €3m add-ons

• Ibrahim Maza — €12m

• Ernest Poku — €12m

• Christian Kofane — €5m

• Abdoulaye Faye — €2.7m

• Janis Blaswich — €2m

• Tim Oermann — €1.9m

• Farid Alfa-Ruprecht — €1.3m

• Lucas Vazquez — Free

• Claudio Echeverri — Loan

It was a summer of change for Bayer Leverkusen, and they enjoyed the process so much that they also decided to replace their coach just a couple of weeks into the season. As far as players are concerned, they made a whopping 15 signings and spent a league-record sum of over €200m all told. All but four of their signings were aged 23 or younger, so they do deserve credit for planning for the future.

I can’t possibly run through all the players while sticking to the word count, but broadly I’d say they’re all good fits at decent fees, though there are some overpays like Jarell Quansah, Equi Fernández and Malik Tillman. The other criticism one could level at them is that there are a lot of rough talents and very few sure bets, which is an understandable side effect of a youth-focused transfer policy but does leave them short of options in certain positions like striker, where it very much looks like Patrick Schick and inshallah for the season. — NS

Kim: B- | Moe: B | Neel: B+ | Hayden: B+

Total outgoings — €240m

• Florian Wirtz — €95m + €20m add-ons

• Jeremie Frimpong — €40m

• Amine Adli — €30m

• Odilon Kossounou — €20m

• Granit Xhaka — €15m + €5m add-ons

• Gustavo Puerta — €3.5m

• Lukas Hradecky — €3m

• Jonathan Tah — €2m

• 8 players loaned

Bayer Leverkusen’s post-title exodus was delayed by a season, but it did come this summer as Xabi Alonso left for pastures new and a few stars followed suit. Most notable among them is, of course, Florian Wirtz. Leverkusen perhaps did not get as high a fee as they might have liked for him, but it is a massive amount anyway, and the add-ons could push it even further. Jeremie Frimpong also might have gone for a bit more in an ideal world, but the market for him was naturally limited due to his unique profile.

Arsenal’s option to buy for Piero Hincapié is at a good amount north of €50m, but if I am to continue being nitpicky, I would say that a little more might have been squeezed out of Odilon Kossounou and Granit Xhaka. In truth, I am very stingy with my As, but this did come quite close. — NS

Kim: A | Moe: A | Neel: A- | Hayden: A

Sooner or later, this sort of window was always going to come for Bayer Leverkusen after their incredible domestic double. Having had time to prepare, they generally did pretty well on the player front and have hedged their bets on a host of youngsters to take them forward, all while maintaining a net profit thanks to some big sales. — NS

Overall grade: A-

Borussia Dortmund — Aggressively mid

Total incomings — €125m

• Jobe Bellingham — €32m + €5m add-ons

• Yan Couto — €25m + €5m add-ons

• Fabio Silva — €22.5m + €4m add-ons

• Carney Chukwuemeka — €25m

• Daniel Svensson — €6.5m

• Aaron Anselmino — Loan

The incomings were a bit of a mixed bag. Jobe Bellingham flashed a high ceiling in the Championship, and Dortmund are banking he reaches close to his potential since they dished out one of the biggest fees in their history. Fábio Silva had a decent season with Las Palmas, but the process of acquiring him remains questionable and he might be a positional tweener. Yan Couto is a fun wingback who should be a regular starter if healthy and can outperform his deal if he gets back to the level shown with Girona. Carney Chukwuemeka could end up being really good, but Dortmund did pay a heavy price when taking into consideration the heavy sell-on clause which has been reported elsewhere. — MM

Kim: C | Moe: C+ | Neel: C | Hayden: C+

Total outgoings — €84m

• Jamie Gittens — €56m + €5m add-ons

• Soumaila Coulibaly — €7.5m + €1m add-ons

• Youssoufa Moukoko — €5m + €2m add-ons

• Giovanni Reyna — €4m + €3m add-ons

• Sebastien Haller — Free

• Marcel Lotka — Free

• 2 players loaned

This was once again another summer in which Dortmund were able to get a big fee for one of their prospects in Jamie Gittens. He’s a fun talent when rolling but his game has some considerable rough edges, and there was significant overperformance on his underlying numbers. Things just seemingly didn’t work out for Youssoufa Moukoko at Dortmund despite the impressive per minute goal output, while Giovanni Reyna has never been able to replicate the form shown in 2020-21. Their careers going off the path Dortmund had hoped they’d go on did set the club back at least a little bit. Soumaïla Coulibaly left for a profit despite essentially never playing for the first team. — MM

Kim: B | Moe: B | Neel: B | Hayden: B+

It’s just hard to get excited over what Dortmund did this summer. They did get a good fee for Gittens when considering his current level of performance, but the incomings as a whole don’t fill you with excitement. The players they acquired aren’t bad, but these are not deals where you initially think the club acquired them for a bargain. Maybe one of Bellingham or Chukwuemeka breaks out as a star, which would help them in the present and down the line. Between squad building concerns, along with the constant carousel of managers, Dortmund are in a weird place these days. — MM

Overall grade: C+

Eintracht Frankfurt — Banking cash for the future

Total incomings — €63.5m

• Jonathan Burkardt — €23m

• Ritsu Doan — €21m + €1m add-ons

• Rasmus Kristensen — €6m + €2m add-ons

• Michael Zetterer — €5m + €1m add-ons

• Love Arrhov — €4.5m

Frankfurt kept their powder relatively dry this summer considering the massive player fees received for Omar Marmoush in January and Hugo Ekitiké in July, to go along with receiving Champions League money from finishing 3rd.

Rasmus Kristensen’s loan became permanent at an appropriate figure given his performance last season. Jonathan Burkardt might not have the gamebreaking abilities that previous Frankfurt strikers exhibited, but he’s coming off the best season of his career with Mainz. His ability to generate shots during counters should fit in with how Frankfurt play. Ritsu Doan is a fine player, but a lot of money was paid on the back of massive goals and assists overperformance. Michael Zetterer is coming in to replace Kevin Trapp, who’s had good stretches of shot stopping but is limited with the ball. — MM

Kim: B | Moe: B- | Neel: A- | Hayden: B+

Total outgoings — €130m

• Hugo Ekitike — €80m + €15m add-ons

• Tuta — €15m

• Paxten Aaronson — €7m + €1.5m add-ons

• Igor Matanovic — €8m

• Nacho Ferri — €2m

• Kevin Trapp — €1m

• 4 players loaned

For all intents and purposes, this section is dominated by the sale of Ekitiké to Liverpool. He’s the latest in what has become a trend with Frankfurt over the years where they’re able to provide a platform for forwards to juice up their production, and then leave for an eyewatering fee in their early to mid-20s (although a portion of the sale did go to Paris Saint-Germain). Other examples of this include Randal Kolo Muani, Luka Jović, and Sébastien Haller. Perhaps in an ideal world, Ekitiké would’ve spent another season in the Bundesliga to further round out his game, but that didn’t end up being the case.

The other move of note was them getting a profit on Tuta, as he moved to Al-Duhail in Qatar after performing ably across several seasons for Frankfurt. — MM

Kim: A+ | Moe: A | Neel: A | Hayden: A-

Frankfurt had a very Frankfurt-esque summer. They were able to acquire a solid forward who can help fill at least some of the attacking void (Burkardt), while the forward they sold (Ekitiké) went for an eyepopping figure. Maybe it would’ve been nice if they further bolstered the squad a bit given how much money they’re bringing in, and I do have qualms about what they spent to bring in Doan. The good news for Frankfurt is despite the loss of Marmoush and Ekitiké in a span of seven months, there’s still legitimate talent on the squad which should keep them at a respectable level. — MM

Overall grade: B+

RB Leipzig — Retool, go again

Total incomings — €94m

• Conrad Harder — €24m + €6m add-ons

• Romulo — €20m + €5m add-ons

• Yohan Bakayoko — €18m + €4m add-ons

• Yan Diomande — €20m

• Arthur Vermeeren — €20m (loaned out)

• Ezechiel Banzuzi — €16m

• Andrija Maksimovic — €14m

After a disappointing season, RB Leipzig decided that the last iteration of their project was done, and it was time to blow it up. The entire front three departed, as you’ll see in the next section, and they were replaced with young, less expensive players.

They’ve gone for a mix of lower and higher risk signings. Conrad Harder feels like a gamble after he spent last season as a backup for Sporting Lisbon, but his per-90 numbers and highlights look spicy. Same for Yan Diomande, who was very good for a teenager in La Liga, but doesn’t have a ton of senior minutes under his belt. On the flipside, Yohan Bakayoko and Romulo probably have significantly less physical talent and upside, but are coming off seasons where they were consistent producers in attack.

Ezechiel Banzuzi looks like a very talented ball-winner and set piece threat, while Andrija Maksimovic put up great dribbling and passing numbers in his age 17 season in Serbia. I like this Leipzig rebuild a lot, they’ve got some very cool young pieces for reasonable fees. — KM

Kim: A- | Moe: B | Neel: B+ | Hayden: A

Total outgoings — €103m

• Benjamin Sesko — €76.5m + €8.5m

• Xavi Simons — €60m

• Ilaix Moriba — €6m

• Janis Blaswich — €2m

• Yussuf Poulsen — €1m

• Andre Silva — €1m

• 9 players loaned

I’m kind of stunned that Leipzig didn’t already have a sale for Simons pre-arranged when they paid a huge fee to sign him in January, but only gave him a 2-year contract. They got out of that pickle anyway, but what a bizarre situation.

Sesko was an outstanding sale. His value was pretty clearly at its peak and wasn’t going to go up if Leipzig thought it was time to sell out of Simons (and Openda, who’s loaned out) while getting younger. It’s kind of funny that this team widely hated for buying its way into success is now organically funding its operation through really good player trading. — KM

Kim: A | Moe: A | Neel: A | Hayden: A+

This is the kind of window we’ve come to expect from Leipzig. One or two of the youngsters will flop, but one or two will hit big too. They’ll be sold for a 3x profit, the profit will be reinvested, they go again. It’s a good independent business, not just a vehicle to sell caffeinated sugar water anymore. — KM

Overall grade: A-

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