How do you replace a striker who scored at least 40 goals in each of the last seven seasons?
This is the main question that every Bayern Munich fan asked this summer, after Robert Lewandowski signed with Barcelona.
The Polish striker arrived at Bayern in the summer of 2014, and during his eight seasons with the team he scored no less than 344 goals in all competitions.
In doing so, he became the second scorer in Bayern's glorious history, with only the legendary Gerd Miller ahead of him.
Bayern won the German championship in all the seasons Lewandowski led their attack, and also won a lot thanks to him in the Champions League two years ago.
In these eight years, the team's success depended mainly on the scoring ability of the Polish superstar.
But it's over, and now Bayern Munich is entering a new era.
And who knows this better than coach Julian Nagelsmann, who said last week: "Our task is to build a team without a player capable of scoring 40 goals in a season. And yes, it's an interesting task for me and my team. We signed Sadio Mane, who also played as a central striker for Liverpool last season. If Because this is a different player than Lewandowski, he is not a classic striker."
That's exactly the point.
Bayern's management decided not to try and buy a striker number nine "compatible with Lewandowski" (how many of these are there anyway?), but to increase the stock of strikers, and hope that the output of all of them together will be more or less equal to that of the Pole.
Julian Engelsman.
The bar of expectations just rose, photo: from Twitter
How symbolic it was when last Saturday five different players scored for her in a 3:5 victory over R.B.
Leipzig in the German Super Cup: Jamal Musiale, Sadio Mane, Benjamin Fabre, Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane.
Against Leipzig, Nagelsmann played in a 1-3-2-4 formation with Mane as the central striker and Gnabry positioned on the right, Musiale on the left and the veteran Thomas Muller right behind him.
But Bayern will not always play like this.
In the friendly match against Washington D.C.
United Neglesman started with 2-4-4 and the two strikers were Mane and Gnabry.
For Gnabry, this is a refreshing change, as the 27-year-old striker has always preferred to play as a central striker rather than a winger.
So it's true that it won't always happen, but Nagelsmann intends to rotate his front line - which didn't happen during Lewandowski's time.
After we've finished talking about the striker position, it's also worth dealing with Bengalsman, who is starting a second season.
The 35-year-old coach did lead Bayern to win the championship, but received a lot of criticism after his debut season, especially after the embarrassing elimination in the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Villarreal.
Mane celebrates with the German Super Cup trophy.
"Not a classic striker", photo: Getty Images
Even the CEO of the club, Oliver Kahn, said that he was not completely satisfied with his coach last season. No one doubts that Schöngelsmann is a talented coach, but the feeling was that at his young age the weight was a bit heavy on him.
The days of grace are over
The star of the past and the commentator of the present Michael Ballack claimed this week that despite the departure of Lewandowski the level of expectations this season for Mengelsman will only increase, mainly due to the large financial investment in the transfer market.
Which means even more pressure.
Lewandowski.
The saga with Bayern is over, photo: Reuters
So far this summer Bayern has spent 137.5 million euros on acquisition players.
In addition to Sadio Mane (41 million euros), the Dutch defender Mathias de Licht (67 million, from Juventus), the Dutch midfielder Ryan Haravenberg (18.5 million, from Ajax), the 17-year-old French striker Mathis Till (20 million, from Maran), and on a free transfer from Ajax The Moroccan right back, Noassir Mazraoui, arrived.
Lewandowski is the only player in the squad who left the Germans (50 million euros), and 36 million euros came into the coffers from the sale of insignificant squad players, including Mark Rocca, Chris Richards and Omar Richards.
Just as in France there is almost no doubt that PSG will win the championship, so has the situation in Germany in the last decade.
Mana.
A particularly profitable transfer of Bayern Munich, photo: AP
The economic and professional gap that has opened between Bayern Munich and all the other teams is huge, so an 11th championship in a row seems obvious.
And as in the case of PSG, so too in Bayern the most important goal is the Champions League.
Bayern Munich is celebrating.
Started the season with a bachelor's degree, photo: Reuters
On Friday, the Bavarians will open the Bundesliga in a difficult away game against Eintracht Frankfurt, who won the Europa League last season.
But her real destination is on June 10, 2023, Atatürk Stadium in Istanbul - the final of the Champions League.
Tweets by nimidana
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
