Bayern Munich's Winger Pursuit: High Costs and Strategic Reshaping
Bayern Munich wanted in on this summer’s winger carousel. They walked away when the numbers hit the stratosphere.
Bayern’s big targets, bigger prices
Bradley Barcola and Anthony Gordon sat high on Bayern’s shortlist as the club looked to arm Vincent Kompany with fresh firepower out wide. The idea was clear: younger, high-impact wingers to reshape the attack.
The reality was brutal. The fees.
Barcola went first. Liverpool pushed £123 million on the table to bring the France international to Anfield as Mohamed Salah’s successor after the Egyptian’s glittering nine-year run on Merseyside came to an end. Gordon followed, leaving Newcastle for Barcelona in a £69m move.
Bayern never got close to those figures.
Speaking to Sport Bild, sporting director Max Eberl laid out just how long he has admired Barcola.
"To be honest, I already know Bradley from my time at Leipzig. I wanted to bring him to Leipzig," he said, recalling early talks. "We sat down together and discussed it back then. That’s how I developed a closer relationship with Bradley. So there was always interest there. Of course, we also looked into him at Bayern."
The interest was real. The money was the problem.
"When you hear about sums like that, it was too much for us," Eberl admitted of Liverpool’s £123m outlay. "With Luis Diaz, we made a decision that was also costly, but on a different scale than Bradley."
The same story played out with Gordon.
"It’s no secret that we were interested in Anthony Gordon for the left wing," Eberl conceded. "We decided we were not doing that because he was simply too expensive."
Liverpool land their Salah heir
Liverpool, by contrast, committed fully. Barcola was identified as the man to fill the void left by Salah, and they moved aggressively to get it done.
The two-time Champions League winner with Paris Saint-Germain wanted the move. That desire helped Liverpool fend off competition from Arsenal and close a deal that makes the former Lyon winger the second-most expensive signing in the club’s history, behind record arrival Alexander Isak.
Now he has to justify it.
Barcola has already been thrown into the rhythm of Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool. He debuted off the bench, replacing fellow new signing Victor Munoz on the hour mark in a 2-0 away win at Ipswich. It was a gentle first step.
His first start came on a far bigger stage.
Against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, the 24-year-old showed why Liverpool were prepared to pay so heavily. Direct running, sharp touches, glimpses of the threat he can become on that right flank. The performance wasn’t flawless, but it didn’t need to be. It just needed to hint at what’s coming.
After Alexis Mac Allister struck the decisive second-half goal in a 2-1 win, Barcola’s night ended early with cramp, a reminder that adaptation to Iraola’s intensity will take time. His minutes will need careful management in the coming weeks as Liverpool lean on him to grow into Salah’s old role.
Bayern pivot and reshape
Missing out on Barcola and Gordon did not leave Bayern standing still. It forced a rethink.
Instead of one blockbuster winger deal, the German champions spread their resources and reshaped the squad. Ismael Saibari and Nathaniel Brown arrived, while a string of departures helped balance the books and reset the wage bill.
- Joao Palhinha
- Alexander Nubel
- Daniel Peretz
- Noel Aseko
- Jonah Kusi-Asare
- Maurice Krattenmacher
- Lovro Zvornarek
all left the Allianz Arena, underlining the scale of the turnover under Kompany and Eberl.
Bayern chose restraint where Liverpool and Barcelona chose risk. The market dictated the split.
Now the question hangs over the season ahead: did Bayern dodge a financial bullet, or just watch two elite wingers slip through their fingers while their rivals gambled on the future?
