A few days after being swept away by Aubameyang's transfer farce, Goretzka, who was also in the Ruhr area, managed to grab the lead. The Schalke 04 midfield star has finally decided to leave the squad at the end of the season for a free transfer to Bayern Munich. Schalke Sport director Haider was the first to confirm the news today, followed by an official statement from Bayern confirming a 4-year contract with 22-year-old Goretska.
Bayern sporting director Salihamidzic shook hands with Goretzka to represent the completion of the trade.
The transfer was supposed to be the number one hit in German football in the New Year, but it quickly cooled down after a few days of media spoilers. Prior to this, Haider publicly stressed twice that the Goretska side had not yet made a decision, and Schalke still had the opportunity to renew his contract. But in the end, the last glimmer of hope was dashed at the beginning of the week. Haider confirmed at a pre-match press conference at home against Hannover 96: "Goretzka told us at the beginning of the week that he wanted to leave the club to join Bayern. We made every effort to keep Leon in Schalke. In the summer, we made a deal with him and his agent, and he needed time to wait and see how the game developed. Yesterday, Rummenigge told us that Leon had completed a medical examination. ”
Regarding what Schalke has done, "Football Sayings" has been introduced many times before, and will not be repeated this time. In an interview with Kicker magazine in early December, Goretzka revealed that he would give a clear statement on the issue of staying in mid-January, and now he has made good on time.
At the moment of official announcement, Bayern's posture is intriguing. After all, Goretzka is still a Schalke player, and it is reasonable to let the family lose it first. The most interesting thing is that Haider and Schalke boss Tedesco talked about Goretzka's departure at a press conference, while Bayern's official statement was only three paragraphs.
The first segment is: Bayern Munich signed Schalke 04 player Leon Goretska. The 22-year-old Germany international's contract with Schalke expired on June 30, 2018, when he signed a four-year contract from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2022.
The second paragraph reads: Goretzka completed a routine medical examination in Munich on Thursday and then signed off on his contract with Bayern.
The third paragraph was a statement by Chairman of the Board of Directors Rummenigge: "We are pleased that Goretzka, a germany international with great potential, has decided to join Bayern despite competition from well-known foreign clubs. This ensured that Goretzka remained in the Bundesliga. ”
Bayern's official announcement on the introduction of Goretska (in English).
The official statement was accompanied by Bayern sporting director Salihamidzic shaking hands with Goretzka, but Sasha did not say two words in the statement. Therefore, the only thing that represents Bayern's official attitude is Chairman Lu's two sentences. Don't look at just two short sentences, but the "knowledgeable" reporters and fans obviously smell a smell of gunpowder.
The point of these two sentences is that Bayern only retained Goretska, the future core of the German national team, in the Bundesliga after defeating many foreign giants (believed to include Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Liverpool) ! Rummenigge's words are prickly, pointing directly at domestic opponents who are unable to retain their core players, as well as those who accuse Bayern of always digging into the corners of domestic rivals. To put it bluntly, Chairman Lu's meaning is that the only one who can avoid the outflow of talent in the Bundesliga is my Bayern family!
Such a domineering side leak is even more pronounced against the backdrop of Aubameyang's quest to escape From Dortmund. Just hours before Goretzka's transfer announcement, Bild veteran journalist Alfred Draxler commented on Aubameyang's move, arguing that the Bundesliga was facing a serious brain drain crisis, with Osman Dembele moving to Barca in the summer on strike, or obba's spate of farces.
"Bild" reporter Draxler posted a lament about the current situation that Dortmund and the Bundesliga cannot retain talent.
Draxler pointed out that in the whole of Europe, the only Bundesliga club that can operate heavy transfers is Bayern. Although Dortmund has an annual turnover of 405 million euros, ranking 11th in the whole of Europe, second only to Bayern (640 million) in Germany, far behind The 3rd Schalke (256 million), but it simply can not retain the core players, since the rise out of the bankruptcy crisis, has lost Shaheen, Götze, Lewandowski, Hummels, Gundogan, Mkhitaryan, Shinji Kagawa and many other cores. Le Monde even pointed out: "Dortmund will have to make wedding dresses for some of the more competitive opponents – the Premier League, La Liga (giants) and Bayern. The club has long since become Freiburg in Europe. ”
Dortmund's inability to retain people is not only a matter of money, but also the size of the city, and the lack of appeal to celebrity big names (especially nightlife players like Aubameyang). Moreover, Real Madrid, Barca or the Premier League powers have a much greater appeal than the other 17 teams in the Bundesliga except Bayern. Today, the words "My goal is the Premier League" can be seen more and more frequently in German newspapers. ”
Draxler is also concerned that German children will also be affected. He pointed out that in the game fifa 18, only 9 of the top 50 players are from the Bundesliga, 8 of which are from Bayern, with the only exception being Aubameyang – once Oba leaves Borussia Dortmund, all the top Bundesliga players gather at Bayern. Children who grow up playing these games are future consumers of the Bundesliga, and when they grow up, they may lose interest in the Bundesliga, which is the big trouble.
De Bruyne and Sane were two pieces of "fat" in front of Bayern, and eventually lost to the Premier League.
People always accuse Bayern of digging into the wall and directly weakening the strength of competitors, resulting in no suspense in the Bundesliga. But the bigger problem is that if Bayern does not dig, these "big fish" in other clubs in the Bundesliga will not necessarily stay steadily, but will often swim to the Premier League, swim to the rich foreign giants, and in the end Bayern and the Bundesliga will lose their external competitiveness and end up with a dead net. Once, De Bruyne and Leroy Sane were in front of Bayern, but Rummenigge and Hoeness did not cherish it, both because they were unwilling to pay more than half a billion to bring in a player, but also because of this public pressure. Since Dortmund and Schalke themselves are not angry, what reason does Bayern have to condone foreign competitors to make waves under their own eyes?
To put it badly, since there is no suspense in the Bundesliga, then Bayern, which is not a person inside and outside, is better to go out and directly take the Champions League quarterfinals or even the top four as the standard for organizing the army, and more boldly start the excavator.