Bayern Munich Legend Slams Liverpool and Newcastle After £700m Transfer Spend

Two of the Premier League’s biggest summer spenders have been criticised by Bayern Munich legend Karl-Heinz Rummenigge based on their business in the recent transfer window.

This summer saw clubs in the Premier League splash out more than £3.2 BILLION on transfer fees.

Liverpool were the biggest spenders, paying £446.5 million in total, while Newcastle were fourth — behind Chelsea (£296.5m) and Arsenal (£267m) — after writing cheques worth £256.3m.

Therefore, Liverpool and Newcastle spent over £700m between them. But Rummenigge does not think all that money was spent particularly wisely.

Rummenigge — who scored more than 200 goals for Bayern between 1974 and 1984, before serving for many years as a director — claimed this week that Newcastle had overpaid for Nick Woltemade. The 23-year-old moved to St James’ Park in a deal worth up to £69m in August.

He also suggested that Florian Wirtz (pictured above) would have been better off joining Bayern than Liverpool.

Florian Wirtz “would be better off at Bayern Munich than at Liverpool”

Wirtz joined Liverpool in a deal worth £116m in June. That made him the club’s most expensive signing ever, albeit not for long. Alexander Isak broke that record earlier this month on deadline day when he arrived from Newcastle for £125m.

Liverpool signed Wirtz despite significant interest from Bayern. Indeed, he had been widely tipped to join the German champions after scoring 35 goals in 140 league games for Bundesliga rivals Bayer Leverkusen.

Speaking to Welt, Rummenigge said: “I have to honestly say, I still feel sorry for Florian Wirtz because I think the player would be better off at Bayern Munich than at Liverpool.”

Newcastle fee for Nick Woltemade was “financial madness”

Rummenigge then claimed that Bayern could have signed Woltemade had they wanted to match Newcastle’s offer, which he suggested was “madness”.

“We could have signed Woltemade,” Rummenigge added. “But I also have to say that FC Bayern would be well advised not to go along with every financial madness.”

After missing out on Wirtz and apparently deciding not to pursue Woltemade, Bayern’s most expensive signing of the summer saw them pay £65.5m to land Luis Diaz from Liverpool.

Bayern also brought in Nicolas Jackson from Chelsea, having previously invested heavily in the likes of Michael Olise, Harry Kane and Kim Min-jae over recent years.

Rummenigge, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Thursday, continued: “I’ve always said that we want sporting success, but please with serious and solid financing.

“We have a top team. We’ll be back this year as well. And if the three currently injured players (Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies, Hiroki Ito) come back soon, then we’ll have a superb team.”

Rummenigge also gave an interview to the official Bayern website this week, during which he was asked if clubs were becoming pawns in the transfer market due to the increasing power of agents.

He replied: “There’s that nice word: ‘No’. The clubs must remain in control. Clubs must not be allowed to become the plaything of agents. When in doubt, you have to draw a clear line — and make it very clear to the players: ‘No! This far and not a square centimetre further.’”

How have Wirtz and Woltemade started in the Premier League?

Woltemade made an instant impact by scoring the winner on his Premier League debut as Newcastle beat Wolves 1-0 earlier this month.

Since then he has drawn blanks against Barcelona in the Champions League, Bournemouth in the Prem and Bradford in the Carabao Cup.

However, it is perhaps too early to judge the big German as he has yet to complete a full 90 minutes for the Magpies.

Wirtz has not yet had a full 90 at club level either since joining Liverpool, although he recorded 89 minutes in the 1-0 win over Arsenal and 87 in the victory at Burnley.

The 22-year-old has yet to register a goal or an assist in his first seven appearances for the Reds in all competitions, and he featured for less than half an hour in the recent 2-1 win against Everton.

Wirtz not worried by slow start

Speaking to Sky Germany recently, Wirtz acknowledged that his start in England could have been better, but insisted he was confident things would soon improve.

“I would have liked to have scored a goal, but no matter what anyone says, I’m staying cool,” said Wirtz.

“I know what I’m capable of and I also know that I’ll really bring it onto the pitch at some point, so I’m just staying cool. That’s a good reminder.

“I don’t want to hear it all the time, ‘Give him time, give him time.’ Instead, I just try to do better each time than before. And sometimes there are just phases where things might not go your way; I haven’t had that very often in my career.

“Once I’ve got through it – that’s perhaps harsh, because I’m not playing badly, I just haven’t got the scoring points yet – it will come at some point, and then everything will be fine.

“It’s no secret that I’d like to have more so far, but I’m patient, and as I just said, I know full well that I can play good football. Sooner or later, I’m sure that things will return to normal.”