Why Bayern’s Florian Wirtz plan fell apart as Tah reality surfaces

Bayern Munich are, without question, disappointed to have lost the race to sign Florian Wirtz.

Provided Liverpool can agree on the finer details of a deal with Bayer Leverkusen, as expected, the German international will be moving to Merseyside this summer.

The Bavarian giants had been keen to supplement their existing roster of top German talents, including Jamal Musiala and Joshua Kimmich.

Bayern had been prepared to offer Wirtz higher wages than Liverpool. But, ultimately, the decision made was a sporting one.

Bayern players gave Florian Wirtz room

Christian Falk now reports that Bayern’s playing squad did not apply pressure on Florian Wirtz over a potential transfer.

That also applies to close friend Jamal Musiala, who shares an international stage with the attacking midfielder.

“Bayern Munich’s players gave Florian Wirtz the space he needed to make his own decision,” the head of football at BILD exclusively informed CF Bayern Insider.

“Even Jamal Musiala, despite the pair being in constant contact with each other outside of football (they’re often keeping in touch about things beyond the sport). There was not one “agent” of Bayern Munich who tried to convince him to sign for the club.

“There’s still a rivalry between Bayern and Leverkusen, so there are not so many players who are close. One idea was that Jonathan Tah, who was set to sign for Bayern Munich from Leverkusen, could help with this deal. But Tah also needed time, so this wasn’t a clear avenue Bayern could pursue to boost their hopes of signing Wirtz.”

Bayern had made further overtures to Wirtz in a secret meeting that took place during the Meisterschale presentation. Unfortunately, this did little to change the player’s mind.

Bayern have other fish to fry

Bayern came into talks knowing that Florian Wirtz was their absolute “Plan A”.

As such, for the time being, they’re not understood to be looking at alternatives to the 22-year-old.

That’s probably for the best right now, given we’re currently struggling to put together a complete squad for the upcoming Club World Cup.

Jonathan Tah had looked set to reinforce the backline in time for the competition. However, Bayer Leverkusen are understood to be playing hardball over releasing the centre-back in the provisional window.

Possible Wirtz alternatives

Again, we should emphasise that Bayern are not currently assessing the market for potential alternatives to Florian Wirtz.

If we were to take a look at statistically similar profiles, according to FBref, however, there is some encouraging news to be found.

In terms of attacking midfielders and wingers, FC Bayern forward Michael Olise is the most similar statistical offering on the market.

Beyond the Frenchman is international colleague Desire Doue and Manchester City signing Rayan Cherki.

You have to go all the way down the list to find Jamal Musiala (9th) and Kingsley Coman (10th).

It’s safe to say that neither PSG nor Barcelona will make it easy for us to target their exciting young talents.

More to the point, the Bayern board is unlikely to sign off on the kind of funds it would take to land either option this summer.

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