What’s the story?
Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola will never be friends. That is something we know for sure. Despite all attempts at a possible reconciliation, Jose can never stop taking digs at his former Barcelona mate and now this week he couldn’t resist again. The former Chelsea manager has taken a swipe at his rival’s former club Bayern Munich, claiming that it’s not possible to buy his rivals best players and then win titles in England.
Bayern Munich is recent years, have made a habit of buying Borussia Dortmund’s best players and then winning titles. While Pep doesn’t get a name-check in the interview, it was clear about who the Portuguese man was talking about.
“That is the new football. This is not Germany. In Germany, Bayern Munich start winning league titles in the summer. They go to Borussia Dortmund every year and buy their best players." said the current United manager in an interview with English newspapers. "Do you think I can go to Tottenham and bring two Tottenham players to kill Tottenham? I can’t. I cannot go to Arsenal and bring the two best Arsenal players. I cannot go to Chelsea and bring two of the players who I love very much.”
In case you didn't know...
Pep Guardiola was the manager of Bayern Munich before he moved to Manchester City. And it was during Spaniard’s reign that the Bavarians brought in three of Borussia Dortmund’s best players viz. Robert Lewandowski, Mario Gotze and Matt Hummels.
While Robert Lewandowski shifted sides during the 2013-2014 season, it was Mario Gotze who became the most expensive German player to be sold at €37 million (a record since shattered by Arsenal for Mesut Ozil at €50 million) and finally Matt Hummels who returned to Munich at the start of the current season.
But this is something that has been done by Manchester United, Arsenal and many other Premier League clubs for quite some time. Arsene Wenger did it by bringing in Sol Campbell from Tottenham as a free transfer, Sir Alex Ferguson did it when he brought in more recently Robin Van Persie from Arsenal, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Carrick from Spurs, as well as Andy Cole from Newcastle United during the 1992 season.
The heart of the matter
Mourinho claims that teams are getting stronger and with the new Premier League TV deal (which earns clubs buckets full of money) in place and clubs can now buy quality players without having to sell their stars to improve themselves.
The British game has changed, and it’s no longer an era where a club can simply become a champion by buying off their rivals best players. If a club wants to purchase a player from any club, they will only have the opportunity to buy the players the club doesn't want anymore.
In Germany, however, that hasn’t changed with Bayern buying players from one of the only teams who can mount a possible title challenge against them in their path to becoming domestic champions. The last team to win the Bundesliga title other than Bayern Munich was Borussia Dortmund during the 2011-2012 season, but since then it’s all been Bayern Munich with them winning it four seasons in a row.
What’s next?
Despite the fact that Mourinho wants his Premier League rivals’ star players, club managers and owners would be hard pressed to find a reason to allow players like Eden Hazard, Mesut Ozil and even Kyle Walker to leave the club. So the former Real Madrid manager will have to settle for buying top players from other leagues.
Sportskeeda’s Take
With football all around the world changing, Bayern Munich will have to depend on the current crop of players to win them their next title, especially with Dortmund’s manager Thomas Tuchel unlikely to sell his star players. But with world class players becoming harder and harder to find, maybe Bayern Munich has the right idea, even though to replicate it, would be extremely tough to do in the Premier League.
