Bayern Munich look more dominant luring Mats Hummels than winning the Bundesliga
Bayern Munich can win the Bundesliga this weekend. It would be a record fourth-straight league title and would set off beer-filled celebrations across Munich. And yet, that isn't the talk of the town. That honor belongs to Mats Hummels.
After days of rumors, Borussia Dortmund came out and admitted that Hummels has asked them to sell him to Bayern Munich this summer. That is what people care about now. In Munich as much as in Dortmund. Bundesliga title clinching be damned.
Maybe nothing has perfectly described the state of German soccer than people's willingness to completely push aside a historic title win to jump on the transfer train and discuss Bayern getting richer once more, and raiding their biggest rivals to do it again.
It is Bayern Munich's world. Almost depressingly so.
The Bavarians aren't even tapping up players and ruthlessly pulling them away from their clubs. They're not putting in massive transfer bids. They're not doing anything other than sitting around and waiting for BVB's top talent to join up.
Bayern Munich got Robert Lewandowski for free.
First it was Mario Gotze, then Robert Lewandowski and now Mats Hummels. All of them left Dortmund for Bayern by choice and they, not Bayern, engineered the move.
Gotze made sure there was a release clause in his BVB contract then when he wanted to leave for Bayern Munich, he simply told the Bavarians to meet it. Lewandowski simply let his contract expire, rebuffing Dortmund's attempts to sign him to a new deal, and then went to Munich for free. Now Hummels has let his contract run down, again despite Dortmund's desire to get him a new deal, and with one year left before he can leave on a free trasnfer, BVB don't really have a choice but to sell.
Bayern don't need to chase Dortmund's players. They don't need to exert themselves or even rattle cages. They just wait until the players decide they want to join Bayern and welcome them with open arms.
They are that big and that good. Backed by Adidas, with a worldwide reach, being annual Champions League favorites and with no end to their deep pockets or ever-expanding trophy case in sight, nobody can compete with Bayern. German soccer is that easy for them.
It's disconcerting for Borussia Dortmund, and German soccer as a whole, but what are they to do? Bayern have the money and infrastructure to offer players more than any other club in the country.
Because of that, they continue to win and that only widens the gap between them and the rest of the league. That's the case even when players don't work out and make the huge impact that people expect when Bayern snatch another player.
Gotze doesn't even have to play for Bayern Munich for his move to widen the gap.
Gotze has been bothered by injuries since joining the Bavarians and his star has fallen, becoming a bit part player at the Allianz, so signing him hasn't been a huge boon to Bayern. Theoretically, that would limit the impact his signing has on the league, but only minimally. Because even if Gotze isn't making Bayern much better, his absence from Dortmund is significant and throws a wrench into the league's quest for competitiveness.
The same will be true when Hummels ditches Dortmund for Munich. There will be questions as to how good he will be for Bayern, and whether it's a wise signing will depend on how much they end up paying for him, but regardless of Hummels' play in Bayern red, Dortmund will suffer from his departure. That gap will only continue to grow.
So Bayern Munich are going to be Bundesliga champions. Again. But people are talking Hummels, because the title might as well have been Bayern's months ago. But just as much because Bayern's ability to reel in Dortmund player after Dortmund player says as much about their dominance as another league title.
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