Uli Hoeneß says €100 million for a player is not the “new normal” at FC Bayern Munich

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Signing Harry Kane for a Bundesliga record fee was certainly an exception for Bayern.

Historically speaking, former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeneß and current supervisory board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge have long been against spending too much on a transfer fee for any one player. They were both highly critical of Neymar Jr.’s move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a transfer fee of €222 million back in the summer of 2017 in a transaction that seemed to foreshadow just how crazy and inflated the transfer market would come to be, especially with the recent prevalence of the Saudi Premier League.

Despite both Rummenigge and Hoeneß having been so outspoken about ridiculous transfer fees, it’s still Bayern Munich that, to date, has the five most expensive ever signings in the Bundesliga with Harry Kane (€100 million), Lucas Hernandez (€80 million), Matthijs De Ligt (€67 million), Kim Min-jae (€50 million), and Leroy Sane (€49 million). Granted, it is a relative market in the Bundesliga compared to Europe’s other top five leagues; namely the Premier League where €100 million is now commonplace for any top talent.

Given Kane’s blockbuster transfer to Bayern from Tottenham and the amount of coverage the whole saga got throughout the course of its lifespan, Hoeneß was recently asked whether Kane’s €100 million euro price tag is a “new normal” at Bayern, to which the honorary president expectedly denied. “No. I’m convinced that FC Bayern will not spend €100 million euros on a player every year. It was a very special situation for a very special player,” he replied, as per Welt (via @iMiaSanMia).

Photo by Philippe Ruiz/Xinhua via Getty Images

Previous evidence would suggest that Hoeneß is right, too, though there’s constantly the underlying conversation to be had as to how the Bundesliga will continue to keep pace with the Premier League if it doesn’t start matching how much money is being spent to attract the top talents across Europe. With Kane’s transfer, it will certainly help reduce the polarity between German and English football and work towards closing the gap in relevance, but there’s still a long way to go for the Bundesliga in terms of being financially comparable to the Premier League.

While €100 million euros might not be the “new normal” at FC Bayern, the proverbial ball could slowly be rolling towards that very sentiment whether the Bundesliga likes it or not.

Looking for more transfer talk, check out our Weekend Warm-up Podcast on Spotify or below:

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