Bundesliga Transfer News: Well Played Kaiser

With increased speculation and apparent player maneuverings, Bayern Munich have found themselves amidst an odd news cycle about losing Franck Ribery. Today, Franz Beckenbauer made a shrewd move and announced that their talismanic playmaker could leave in the summer if the player himself really wants the move. The destination was confirmed as Real Madrid where presidential hopeful Florentino Perez is promising the Frenchman to regain control of the club.
This is a very decisive and correct move by der Kaiser and the Munich brass.

Why?

1. Ribery is making noises about wanting to leave. By allowing him out in the summer, you do not see diminishing returns on your best player at the end of a season where they are in a dog-fight for the title and have as much chance of winning the Champion’s League as any other team not from Catalonia.Manchester United is finding out just how uninterested a moody diva can be.In fact by announcing it now, while Perez is still trying to win the seat, Ribery actually needs to sell himself to all presidential hopefuls and thus you see him possibly working even harder.
2. They won’t have to deal with the whole “will he go or won’t he go” stories that can be an impediment to a club. *cough* Berbatov *cough*Nipped in the bud, they can concentrate on how they can better their team come the summer, rather than dealing with contingency plans or posturing. The business of running a club takes precedent over the business of running a day care.
3. By allowing him to leave with 2 years to go on his current contract, they are selling at a time when they can get optimum value. If it drags down to a year, teams have to sell players at a cheaper price just to protect themselves against a Bosman. Anything over two years typically gives the selling club the power.And going back to getting the most out of Ribery on the field, no price has been negotiated and the Frenchman has a vested interested in the value of the transfer.
4. No player is bigger than the club, especially a club of Bayern’s size and stature. The nonchalant attitude of the announcement was delivered to let Ribery know that Bayern will be fine without him. And they will. So why should they sweat one player?United’s desperation to keep Ronaldo seems so below them in contrast to Bayern’s swift announcement to let Ribery go. United and Bayern are two of six clubs in the world that should never grovel for a player. Bayern reminded us that they won’t by exposing for the umpteenth time that another of those teams, Real Madrid, will.
5. Tactically, it would be iffy that Ribery would be necessary next campaign. Sure he would be great to have, but Klinsmann seems set with the 4-4-2 and doesn’t seem set on having Ribery as a central midfielder. Altintop and Schweinsteiger are a great tandem on the wings, and one has to sit to fit Ribery. With Tymochuk coming in, the combination of him and Borowski would seem like a dominating central pairing, with potentially Sosa to be a spark of creativity late. Here you have a scenario for team selection that would make them still the envy of the rest of the league and yet it doesn’t even account for summer transactions.
6. Luca Toni’s sell-on date seems to be fast approaching. Ribery is one of his best mates at the club. If you figure that Oddo won’t be signed long term, Bayern are effectively insulating Toni and making a move for the soon to be 32 year old forward more likely. With this move they could be removing the two highest wages on their pay role. And they already have Olic and Donovan already on board at forward. They could be looking to reduce their wage burden over the next year that looks to be a bad one for football.
7. Even by a football player in Lederhosen standards, Ribery looked ridiculous.