BayernBild, sorry, we obviously mean SportBild, once again have a story in their magazine this week about Thomas Muller and how he’s been prevented from moving to the Premier League.
When Louis van Gaal was manager at Manchester United, the approaches were probably genuine, but there’s been an awful lot of Bayern PR fluff thrown in since. Some, maybe a good percentage, of that comes from the German club directly, and finds its way into SportBild.
A couple of weeks ago SportBild reported Juventus, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal had all wanted Muller during the summer transfer window, but the player had no intention to leave.
As we explained at the time: ‘All of these clubs will know Muller is very unlikely to leave Bayern Munich. If things ever got really bad then it’s perhaps even likelier Carlo Ancelotti would go than the 27 year old. That’s why it’s always hard to believe when SportBild hand out a series of Ls to Premier League clubs.
As long as Muller isn’t a mainstay for Ancelotti, the stories will continue, and then when the German international is once again crucial for Bayern Munich, the story will change to: Haha, remember when Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool thought they had a chance of signing Muller.’
This week the concentration is mainly on Liverpool.
It’s claimed Philippe Coutinho’s move to Barcelona failed because of Thomas Muller. Yes, taking things way off into the stratosphere this time, BayernBild claim Coutinho’s Liverpool exit failed because Muller didn’t go to Merseyside.
Forget that they’re not the same type of player, forget that Liverpool don’t really play in a way crying out for Muller, none of that would do: Jurgen Klopp wanted Muller, and Coutinho was offered a transfer to Barcelona for over €100m on the condition Liverpool could get the German.
But Bayern Munich didn’t want to play ball, so Coutinho had to stay at Anfield.
Yep, yet another transfer story from SportBild which shows Bayern Munich trampling all over the hopes and dreams of Premier League clubs, with Barcelona this time thrown in for added measure. You thought PSG may have been the big boys of the transfer window? No, Bayern Munich were pulling the window’s strings in the background.
Whether it be Bundesliga players, who are almost certainly destined for Bayern, being linked with English clubs so Ls can later be handed out, or the never-ending Muller games, this is a path the German magazine are absolutely committed to.
This time it’s Liverpool in the middle, with the Merseyside club now being used for PR by people close to both Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Just. Stop. It.
