5 reasons why the Bundesliga is not so competitive

#2 Selling nature of clubs

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was the last big name player to be sold by a Bundesliga side

Bundesliga clubs have had a track record of selling their best talent across Europe. Dortmund have been guilty of doing this the most number of times in recent years. They sold Ousmane Dembele and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona and Arsenal respectively this season. Furthermore, they have also sold Ilkay Gundogan to Manchester City and defensive giant Mats Hummels to arch-rivals Bayern Munich.

Looking at the other top clubs, Schalke sold Leroy Sane to Manchester City last year while shipping centre-back Benedikt Howedes to Juventus this year on loan. Leverkusen have sold key players Omer Toprak and Javier Hernandez to Dortmund and West Ham United respectively. Leipzig sold youngster Oliver Burke to West Brom while Naby Keita is all set to move to Liverpool next season.

Selling top players unsettles the balance of the team. Instead of developing the tactics around players that are vital to the team, these sides are left searching for replacements who may or may not fill the void left by the departing players. This coupled with the fact that the new recruits take time to adapt to the system at play means that these teams will be unable to hit top gear right away.

If you compare this strategy with that of Bayern, you'll find that the record-champions are still built around the same core players who helped them lift the treble in 2013.