It took the best part of two years to turn Harry Kane’s arrival at Bayern Munich into reality, and around four minutes to understand that it would not be the knockout blow to all competition – at least not on its own.
Kane’s Bayern debut was rapturously acclaimed by the steep stands of the Allianz Arena, as he entered with his side two goals down in the 64th minute of the Super Cup against RB Leipzig. In the 68th, before Kane had a touch of the ball, his new colleague Noussair Mazraoui conceded a penalty which was converted by Dani Olmo for his hat-trick. The England captain’s potential rescue act had become a debut damp squib, and underlined that the new man’s success is far from guaranteed.
The Super Cup, as with its counterparts across the continent, is no reliable guide to the season to come. Note, for example, that Bayern have won only three of the last five editions. Yet the champions’ bum notes on (pre-)opening night as they were flamed on home turf by Leipzig were significant, in that everybody already knew the tune. Despite the arrivals of Kane, Konrad Laimer and Kim Min-Jae, this could have been passed off as one of any number of Bayern performances authored in 2023; wan, ponderous and listless.
Thomas Tuchel used his post-match press conference to apologise to Kane for the lack of service and to expresshope his new striker could jolt his new teammates from “the cycle of poor performances” they have been in. The coach’s refrain of “I don’t know” when asked to explain Bayern’s slip-ups has become worryingly regular.
Much has changed upstairs – and began to even before the end of last season, with the CEO Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic fired before the final game at Köln, which ended with Bayern improbably retaining their title – but on the pitch, not enough has evolved since the lacklustre coda of last term. “Would it have been better,” asked Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Christoph Kneer this week, “if Tuchel had only taken over at Bayern during the summer?” The feeling is that the coach and his players are still carrying the baggage of a chaotic end to last season, which somehow ended in an 11th successive title win.
That doesn’t mean Bayern won’t get it together, of course. They have greater resources than their rivals and, of course, the talent in their ranks. Yet with so many fundamental issues as yet unaddressed, English suspicions that Kane’s first league title is a gimme is premature, even if the €100m man scores at a Lewandowski-esque rate as expected. There is intense (and public) disagreement between Tuchel and Joshua Kimmich over whether the Germany midfielder is the world-class No 6 that the team needs – the coach thinks not – and even if Kane’s arrival is a coup, Bayern’s summer transfer business has been a struggle.
The defence and midfield is still a work in progress – even if Kim is a huge upgrade for the former – and there is confusion over how long they will continue to be without Manuel Neuer. Both Yann Sommer and Alexander Nübel have been shipped out, and new CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen revealed Kepa Arrizabalaga would have been presented alongside Kane at Allianz Arena the day after the Super Cup had it not been for the ACL injury to Thibault Courtois, leading Real Madrid to snatch the Spain goalkeeper away. The experienced but fallible Sven Ulreich may end up being the medium-term solution.
As things stand, both Leipzig and last season’s almost-champions Borussia Dortmund have a clearer idea of what they are and where they’re going. The latter, having lost out on last season’s title in agonising circumstances, will need to quickly show signs of recovery but the early indications are promising. Edin Terzic and his sporting director, Sebastian Kehl, didn’t have the option of standing still with Jude Bellingham leaving for Real Madrid, and they haven’t.
Kehl has brought in two midfield reinforcements from opposite ends of the age spectrum, with Marcel Sabitzer arriving from Bayern with much to (re)prove and Felix Nmecha signed from Wolfsburg. BVB have staked a lot on the younger Nmecha, with fans protesting before his move after he was accused of promoting homophobic and transphobic views on social media.
The club’s CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, said after the transfer that Nmecha “completely convinced us during intensive talks that he does not hold any transphobic or homophobic beliefs”, though some fans remain unconvinced. Nmecha’s pre-season form suggests he could be a significant on-pitch asset for a team whose difficult ending to last season shouldn’t mask the trajectory under Terzic. His team went from sixth at Christmas to touching distance of the title.
With the nature of last season’s final day cave-in at home to Mainz, leadership has been a hot topic, and Marco Reus abdicated the captaincy in the summer. His successor is Emre Can, whose extraordinary revival in form in the second half of last season earned him a new deal and led Terzic to pull the plug on a move for Edson Álvarez, who eventually joined West Ham instead. BVB have it in them to run Bayern close again.
Leipzig’s strong early impression in the Super Cup, on the other hand, was more surprising. They lost their four best players this summer – Christopher Nkunku, Josko Gvardiol, Dominik Szoboszlai and the aforementioned Laimer – and were forced into an impromptu rebuild. The pressure has been firmly on sporting director Max Eberl, so he had every right to emerge from the changing room after the Super Cup looking like the cat that got the cream.
His team had looked polished, well-coached – bestowing continued credit on Marco Rose – and coherent, belying the wholesale changes. Club-record signing Loïs Openda, fresh from a stellar season firing Lens to the Champions League, represents a shift in transfer policy (the fee paid to the French club could rise to as much as €48m), but is already building a strong relationship with Xavi Simons, loaned in from Paris Saint-Germain. Rose’s squad is well stocked, with room to grow.
It is hard to look beyond this trio for a title contender. Leverkusen’s improvement under Xavi Alonso last season was highly impressive but they have lost Moussa Diaby to Aston Villa, although their star coach has extended his contract and the experienced Granit Xhaka and Jonas Hofmann have joined up. Union Berlin, who will conduct their debut Champions League campaign from relegated rivals Hertha’s Olympiastadion, are threatening to step up another level with the blue-chip signings of Robin Gosens, Kevin Volland and (from Hertha) Lucas Tousart.
Niko Kovac and Wolfsburg have spearheaded an ambitious recruitment campaign with the excellent Croatia midfielder Lovro Majer, reinvesting the fees for Nmecha and Micky van der Ven, who joined Tottenham. At the other end of the table, Darmstadt and first-timers Heidenheim are expected to struggle, while Borussia Mönchengladbach, under ex-Leverkusen boss Gerardo Seoane, need a good start after the summer exodus including Marcus Thuram and Ramy Bensabaini.
Expected, though, may mean nothing this season – unless Bayern can do enough in the remainder of the window to provide Kane with the support that he needs.
