Bayern Munich’s public pursuit of other team’s players...

The Corinthian said:

I don't think anyone really hates the Bundesliga, per se.

I think there's 2 things in general - 1) It's more the air or moral superiority and tone that fans of Bundesliga teams seem to exude.

2) They also come across a bit desperate when defending Bayern to non-BL football fans. For example, can you imagine fans of say, United, City or Spurs defending Liverpool to fans of another league? All a bit odd really.

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Sure. But I think what they are usually defending isn’t Bayern, they hate us. They are defending their own clubs from unwarranted criticism. The best example being Dortmund. They sold us exactly one player through the years who they could have kept. That was Hummels. They couldn’t do anything about Götze or Lewandowski. They even desperately tried to get Lewandowski to go to Real. He didn’t want to.
And yet they get to hear how they somehow bend over for us, whenever we want. I think part of it is that some people on here are a little butthurt that United‘s transfers from Dortmund didn’t work out at all.
People on here keep blaming the rest of the league for Bayern‘s monopoly on players instead of realising that there’s just not much those clubs can do about it.
Also people on here don’t seem to understand the effort Bayern put in recruiting and charming players. The club isn’t randomly tapping up players when needed. Some transfers take years of preparation. Goretzka was already being courted before he was even 18 years old.
Of course he moves to Bayern and not abroad in a case like that.

Players are not unsettled by what is said in public interviews. They are unsettled by what is said to their agents behind closed doors directly or indirectly. The public comments are for fans and to create news.

Rozay said:

It isn’t about the unsettling of the player per se. It is disrespectful for the club, and fuels headlines and conversation that isn’t needed. Bayern are competing with Leipzig for the league (sort of) and feel it appropriate to be coming out and talking about signing their star defender. They were about to compete with Dortmund in a Champions League final when they came out and made their move for Goetze.

It’s a little on the unethical side I think.

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I was commenting on the posts in the previous page. And Bayern have no respect for other clubs and never had, I get what you are saying in the OP but I already addressed it, Bayern have never pretended to be nice to others, they don't want to be friend with other clubs and they have no intention to respect them. Bayern goal is to be the absolute best and step on everyone else neck.

B. Munich said:

If Bayern wanted to unsettle Dortmund they would have waited until a few days of the final in Wembley, wouldn't they?
I doubt Bayern would have preferred that Dortmund lost to Real Madrid and they would have to face a strong Madrid side on the final. So these accusations are media rubbish.

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How were BM to know BD would reach the finals? I don't think the 2013 RM was a stronger side than BD. It was Mou's last season and they were quite poor that season. The fact that BM were playing in the other semi final, while trying to destabilize BD makes the matter more worse in my mind.

Yes I'm a Bayern fan, and I'm biased. But I'm sure many who are complaining here in this thread, secretly admire how Bayern is doing their business. They would love, if their club is run as successfull as Bayern without sugar daddy money or being indebted like a famous Spanish giant.

There is a saying in German. "Mitleid bekommt man geschenkt. Neid muss man sich erarbeiten"
Dunno if there is an English translation but the meaning is. Sympathy is free. Envy have to be earned.

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That's an interesting quote, don't think I've heard anything similar in English.

Back in the 90's United was the richest PL club, and generally had the pick of the PL talent every season. So I don't think United fans should be envious of BM's transfer dealings. Granted, KHR is more skilled than Woody, but even Woody might thrive transfer wise if he had such a big advantage over the other clubs.

Yet I wouldn't want to take the PL back to that same status quo. I much prefer the balance of talent distribution and the competitiveness of the PL today. I despise BM's antics even though they haven't lured any player from I team I support, simply because these are cheap tactics. When you consider that BM are actually way ahead financially of the clubs they try these ploys on, you only have to think of it as bullying.

HTG said:

Sure. But I think what they are usually defending isn’t Bayern, they hate us. They are defending their own clubs from unwarranted criticism. The best example being Dortmund. They sold us exactly one player through the years who they could have kept. That was Hummels. They couldn’t do anything about Götze or Lewandowski. They even desperately tried to get Lewandowski to go to Real. He didn’t want to.
And yet they get to hear how they somehow bend over for us, whenever we want. I think part of it is that some people on here are a little butthurt that United‘s transfers from Dortmund didn’t work out at all.
People on here keep blaming the rest of the league for Bayern‘s monopoly on players instead of realising that there’s just not much those clubs can do about it.
Also people on here don’t seem to understand the effort Bayern put in recruiting and charming players. The club isn’t randomly tapping up players when needed. Some transfers take years of preparation. Goretzka was already being courted before he was even 18 years old.
Of course he moves to Bayern and not abroad in a case like that.

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That's a fair summary, but you can see why the air of superiority (or however you want to describe it) falls flat when looking at the BL as a whole. It's essentially Bayern's playground, and the other clubs are their toys.

The fact that each season, they pick the best of the rest from their challengers doesn't look great on the league as a whole.

The Corinthian said:

I don't think anyone really hates the Bundesliga, per se.

I think there's 2 things in general - 1) It's more the air or moral superiority and tone that fans of Bundesliga teams seem to exude.

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It partly exists, and it's stupid. (But so is your generalization of BL teams' followers.)

But be honest, do you really see this attitude as a standout feature of BL fans, as opposed to others? That would take some remarkably selective perception.

The Corinthian said:

2) They also come across a bit desperate when defending Bayern to non-BL football fans. For example, can you imagine fans of say, United, City or Spurs defending Liverpool to fans of another league? All a bit odd really.

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Can you quote all these non-Bayern fans desperate to defend Bayern in this thread?

kaiser1 said:

Where did you get the bold from? Madrid talked openly about Ribery Lewandoski, just like they did about DeGea and C Ronaldo. Was Man Utd not talking about other teams players as well. Barcelona was all over Neymar last summer, They openly declared interest in Beckham Ronaldinho months earlier. They openly chased Coutinho and were not ashamed of it. Fabregas with Arsenal too, they spoke about him coming back "home" for years

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Those are all legit examples. RM's chase of Ronaldo was widely hated. Every FCB player coming out and saying how they'd love to play with Fabregas, was also a poor show for them. Yet, I have to say both of them have piped down a lot over the last 5+ years. Probably because they know they aren't the richest clubs anymore, and they can't just have their way with every player.


You'd agree that all of these were top players in the world playing for top 10 clubs which these clubs were trying to poach. Are you equating this to BM doing the same to their financially inferior BL counterparts for players who generally have a release clause or whose contracts are up for renewal? I hate RM's pursuit of Ronaldo, yet it showed that they were luring a player from a club which was its equals. It would be multiple times more worse if Ronaldo was playing for a club like Valencia instead.

Synco said:

It partly exists, and it's stupid. (But so is your generalization of BL teams' followers.)

But be honest, do you really see this attitude as a standout feature of BL fans, as opposed to others? That would take some remarkably selective perception.

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(Can a thing partly exist?)

To the bolded - yes, there does seem to be a trend with BL fans more so than those that follow other leagues. Not every single fan, of course, but on this board it's something that I've noticed.

Can you quote all these non-Bayern fans desperate to defend Bayern in this thread?

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Not in this thread, but then again, I'm not really talking about this thread in isolation.

nuanced said:

How were BM to know BD would reach the finals? I don't think the 2013 RM was a stronger side than BD. It was Mou's last season and they were quite poor that season. The fact that BM were playing in the other semi final, while trying to destabilize BD makes the matter more worse in my mind.

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That makes all the sense if you believe Bayern would have preferred facing Real in the CL final to Dortmund, i.e. no sense at all...

Solving the mystery about who leaked the Götze transfer to the press is most meaningfully approached with the question "cui bono?", and then you arrive at two main suspects:

1. Real Madrid - the news leaked 24 hours before the semis, and it served to unsettle their imminent opponent. It's highly probable that a club like Real would have knowledge of the transfer of such a player with a release clause, they probably were in contact with Götze's agent themselves.

or

2. Uli Hoeneß' entourage - and no, not Bayern (Rummenigge was serious and adamant in denying it was done by the club, and we have established that he's incapable of keeping anything to himself), but Hoeneß personally who at that very time was facing public exposure as a tax criminal and would have had some benefit from changing the narrative.

But honestly, option 1 seems very likely, and Klopp himself seemed very much to think so too at the time.

for reference, Klopp's press conference for the game where he has to react to the news.
https://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussba...pp-zum-wechsel-von-mario-goetze-a-896059.html

full version (question about who he thinks is responsible at 10:00):

The Corinthian said:

(Can a thing partly exist?)

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Asking the important questions, I see.

The Corinthian said:

To the bolded - yes, there does seem to be a trend with BL fans more so than those that follow other leagues. Not every single fan, of course, but on this board it's something that I've noticed.

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Clearly selective perception, then.

The Corinthian said:

Not in this thread, but then again, I'm not really talking about this thread in isolation.

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Thought so.

I'd say this thread is pretty representative of the attitudes of non-Bayern BL fans towards Bayern. (The more civil attitudes that is, so minus the actually nasty/hateful ones.) And I think that would be obvious to anyone familiar with the scenery.

nuanced said:

Those are all legit examples. RM's chase of Ronaldo was widely hated. Every FCB player coming out and saying how they'd love to play with Fabregas, was also a poor show for them. Yet, I have to say both of them have piped down a lot over the last 5+ years. Probably because they know they aren't the richest clubs anymore, and they can't just have their way with every player.

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Barcelona still did with Dembele Coutinho plus Griezmann and RM did with Hazard, the recent big money buys, even the very public chase of Neymar. They have all been very public, Barcelona openly tapped up Griezzman and was fined $300

You'd agree that all of these were top players in the world playing for top 10 clubs which these clubs were trying to poach. Are you equating this to BM doing the same to their financially inferior BL counterparts for players who generally have a release clause or whose contracts are up for renewal? I hate RM's pursuit of Ronaldo, yet it showed that they were luring a player from a club which was its equals. It would be multiple times more worse if Ronaldo was playing for a club like Valencia instead.

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Did you recall how Barcelona got Braithwaite last year? They basically bought him after the transfer window closed by triggering his release clause, Leganes were left without their main striker and unable to replace him. If they could strongarm a top club, how much more if they see a player they liked at a smaller club without the financial resources Like what Barcelona did to Dortmund over Dembele. Tapped him, Dembele refusing to train with Dortmund finally Signing him 3 days to the end of the transfer window with Dortmund unable to replace him. That was the reason why Dortmund gave a deadline for Sancho
If Barcelona had the financial advantage why won't they do what they did to Leganes to every club whenever they need a player urgently?

The way it usually goes is that a bigger club approaches the agent of a player from a smaller club, offer him more money. The player, agents, big club start making statements of interest and fake denials in the press. The selling club realize they have little leverage since they can either match the big salary, try to sell to another club(player refuse), basically sell him or he moves for free

JPRouve said:

I was commenting on the posts in the previous page. And Bayern have no respect for other clubs and never had, I get what you are saying in the OP but I already addressed it, Bayern have never pretended to be nice to others, they don't want to be friend with other clubs and they have no intention to respect them. Bayern goal is to be the absolute best and step on everyone else neck.

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Pretty sure we‘ve all noticed this but not the point.

Denis' cuff said:

Pretty sure we‘ve all noticed this but not the point.

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Not the point to what?

nuanced said:

How were BM to know BD would reach the finals? I don't think the 2013 RM was a stronger side than BD. It was Mou's last season and they were quite poor that season. The fact that BM were playing in the other semi final, while trying to destabilize BD makes the matter more worse in my mind.


That's an interesting quote, don't think I've heard anything similar in English.

Back in the 90's United was the richest PL club, and generally had the pick of the PL talent every season. So I don't think United fans should be envious of BM's transfer dealings. Granted, KHR is more skilled than Woody, but even Woody might thrive transfer wise if he had such a big advantage over the other clubs.

Yet I wouldn't want to take the PL back to that same status quo. I much prefer the balance of talent distribution and the competitiveness of the PL today. I despise BM's antics even though they haven't lured any player from I team I support, simply because these are cheap tactics. When you consider that BM are actually way ahead financially of the clubs they try these ploys on, you only have to think of it as bullying.

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Bayern already beat Dortmund twice in that season, in the league and the DFB Pokal. I would be very surprised, if the board preferred Real Madrid in the final who already won 9 titles and won each CL final they played.

All elite clubs are doing it. They just have their different ways. Man Utd doing it by briefing third parties and the press, Barcelona with Fabregas by letting the team tell how much they would love him to join the club.

Anyway does the "how" really matters?
If a club is interested in a player of another club they need to approach the player/agent and there have to be talks. Some clubs doing it behind doors and deny it when the press finds out, others like Bayern doing it more in the open.
I don't think the "how" players are approached has much influence whether the player in question will eventually move or not. It's rather the fans of the selling club who will be upset, if it's done in an open direct way.
German media are clearly reporting that Upamecano (or his agent) has been approached by Bayern and several Premier League Cubs including Liverpool and Man United. I don't see Bayern's approach unsettling the player more than the approaches of the EPL clubs.

Bayern usually compete with the elite clubs and not with Bundesliga clubs for top players. Havertz was bought by Chelsea, Dest by Barcelona.
It's an urban legend originating in the late 80s and early 90s that Bayern gets all the talent in Bundesliga and only buys to weaken their opposition.

When Bayern bought Gnabry redcafe was laughing and predicted the end of Bayern's elite status. Davies was offered to United before Bayern took him. Kimmich played at Leipzig in the 2nd league. Süle was a nobody at Hoffenheim. Pavard came from Stuttgart after they been relegated.

Redcafe is still obsessed with the Lewandowski transfer but disregards that Bayern did some excellent and smart business in the transfer market over the years. The only elite players Bayern bought were Hernandez at 80 million and Sané at 50 million, which was actually pretty cheap considering Man City wanted 120 million a year ago.

Bayern in being cnuts in the transfer market shocker. There are a few things you never do, you never get into a land war in Southeast Asia and you never get a player from the Bundesliga that Bayern doesn't want. That combined with basically no competition in Germany gives them this air of superiority and arrogance from the top-down therefore publically talking about wanting rival clubs players is no big deal to them.

B. Munich said:

Bayern already beat Dortmund twice in that season, in the league and the DFB Pokal. I would be very surprised, if the board preferred Real Madrid in the final who already won 9 titles and won each CL final they played.

All elite clubs are doing it. They just have their different ways. Man Utd doing it by briefing third parties and the press, Barcelona with Fabregas by letting the team tell how much they would love him to join the club.

Anyway does the "how" really matters?
If a club is interested in a player of another club they need to approach the player/agent and there have to be talks. Some clubs doing it behind doors and deny it when the press finds out, others like Bayern doing it more in the open.
I don't think the "how" players are approached has much influence whether the player in question will eventually move or not. It's rather the fans of the selling club who will be upset, if it's done in an open direct way.
German media are clearly reporting that Upamecano (or his agent) has been approached by Bayern and several Premier League Cubs including Liverpool and Man United. I don't see Bayern's approach unsettling the player more than the approaches of the EPL clubs.

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I don't think Woodward's alleged press briefings are the same as the actual quotes from the Bayern hierarchy. In the former, the press can make up stories, if they do the same for the latter they'd get sued out of the business.

When Bayern bought Gnabry redcafe was laughing and predicted the end of Bayern's elite status. Davies was offered to United before Bayern took him. Kimmich played at Leipzig in the 2nd league. Süle was a nobody at Hoffenheim. Pavard came from Stuttgart after they been relegated. Redcafe is still obsessed with the Lewandowski transfer but disregards that Bayern did some excellent and smart business in the transfer market over the years.

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No doubt Bayern's transfer dealings are very smart, and I admire the Bayern management a lot for it.

Bayern usually compete with the elite clubs and not with Bundesliga clubs for top players. Havertz was bought by Chelsea, Dest by Barcelona.
It's an urban legend originating in the late 80s and early 90s that Bayern gets all the talent in Bundesliga and only buys to weaken their opposition.
...
The only elite players Bayern bought were Hernandez at 80 million and Sané at 50 million, which was actually pretty cheap considering Man City wanted 120 million a year ago.

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I think your examples conflict with the highlighted point here. I think that Bayern have hardly brought any elite players beating out the other European giants, not that it is a bad thing to be clear. They were never really in the race once De Bruyne, Sane were chased by City, Barca immediately closed on the Dest deal sidellining Bayern who were chasing him for a while. You had to buy out Hernandez's contract and got Sane on the cheap after the pandemic struck.

Bayern hadn't had a 40+ million euro transfer before Hernandez last year. To keep on being competitive even without any large transfer outlays is commendable. But it highlights that Bayern have never competed for the elite transfers, and BL's immense talent factory has been helping them be competitive instead.

kaiser1 said:

Barcelona still did with Dembele Coutinho plus Griezmann and RM did with Hazard, the recent big money buys, even the very public chase of Neymar. They have all been very public, Barcelona openly tapped up Griezzman and was fined $300


Did you recall how Barcelona got Braithwaite last year? They basically bought him after the transfer window closed by triggering his release clause, Leganes were left without their main striker and unable to replace him. If they could strongarm a top club, how much more if they see a player they liked at a smaller club without the financial resources Like what Barcelona did to Dortmund over Dembele. Tapped him, Dembele refusing to train with Dortmund finally Signing him 3 days to the end of the transfer window with Dortmund unable to replace him. That was the reason why Dortmund gave a deadline for Sancho
If Barcelona had the financial advantage why won't they do what they did to Leganes to every club whenever they need a player urgently?

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When I think of RM tapping up Ronaldo I think of Calderon coming out and talking about Ronaldo constantly. Similarly, Barca tapped up Fabregas by Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, etc. constantly talking about him in every press conference. This kind of behavior is quite disrespectful to the selling club, and is not something both have done a lot recently due to a realization of their financial limits.

Barca definitely destabilized Dortmund by tapping up Dembele late in the transfer window. But is that as worse as Barca hypothetically tapping up an Atletico player in January while both are locked in a title challenge? As an aside, La Liga allowing the Brathwaite transfer was ridiculous.

The way it usually goes is that a bigger club approaches the agent of a player from a smaller club, offer him more money. The player, agents, big club start making statements of interest and fake denials in the press. The selling club realize they have little leverage since they can either match the big salary, try to sell to another club(player refuse), basically sell him or he moves for free

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This is spot on. But you have multiple ways of approaching a player, based on your financial leverage, and some ways are worse than others.

Hansi Fick said:

That makes all the sense if you believe Bayern would have preferred facing Real in the CL final to Dortmund, i.e. no sense at all...

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The same Real whom Bayern defeated in the semis just the season before? With Bayern growing stronger and JoMo's meltdown, Bayern would've been favorites against RM that season.

Solving the mystery about who leaked the Götze transfer to the press is most meaningfully approached with the question "cui bono?", and then you arrive at two main suspects:

1. Real Madrid - the news leaked 24 hours before the semis, and it served to unsettle their imminent opponent. It's highly probable that a club like Real would have knowledge of the transfer of such a player with a release clause, they probably were in contact with Götze's agent themselves.

or

2. Uli Hoeneß' entourage - and no, not Bayern (Rummenigge was serious and adamant in denying it was done by the club, and we have established that he's incapable of keeping anything to himself), but Hoeneß personally who at that very time was facing public exposure as a tax criminal and would have had some benefit from changing the narrative.

But honestly, option 1 seems very likely, and Klopp himself seemed very much to think so too at the time.

for reference, Klopp's press conference for the game where he has to react to the news.
https://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussba...pp-zum-wechsel-von-mario-goetze-a-896059.html

full version (question about who he thinks is responsible at 10:00):

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Thanks for the links. RM's involvement in it is one angle which I did not consider.

Ramshock said:

Bayern in being cnuts in the transfer market shocker. There are a few things you never do, you never get into a land war in Southeast Asia and you never get a player from the Bundesliga that Bayern doesn't want. That combined with basically no competition in Germany gives them this air of superiority and arrogance from the top-down therefore publically talking about wanting rival clubs players is no big deal to them.

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This is quite true. It seems like any half decent BL player on a cheap deal ends up at Bayern. I've no idea why they signed players like Kirchoff, Rudy, Rode, etc. Those are the ones I remember from a while back, I'm pretty sure they've added to their list of players whom they just signed to flip for a quick profit.

Chelsea are now actively pursuing the signature of either Alaba, Süle or Upamecano for next season.
I don't have a problem with this in particular but I don't see where their behavior is any different than what Bayern is doing.
They clearly state that Tuchel wants to sign at least one of these players.

B. Munich said:

Chelsea are now actively pursuing the signature of either Alaba, Süle or Upamecano for next season.
I don't have a problem with this in particular but I don't see where their behavior is any different than what Bayern is doing.
They clearly state that Tuchel wants to sign at least one of these players.

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How hard is it to see the difference. No one said it's wrong to sign any player, this thread is about club officials talking about other club players.

Wow, bunch of sensitive people around... "Bayern talked about our player, wah wah". I mean, would you prefer if the move came out of the blue? Who cares? If the player wants to leave the club and go to Bayern, he's gonna leave the club and go to Bayern.

Nevermind, continue your crusade against Bayern... wonder what next week's reason to hate Bayern is going to be. :P

No love for Bayern at all. They are well run of course, but I do not like the way they do business or how they conduct themselves.

And now Koemann is mad that half of PSG is talking about Messi joining them in the summer

Rozay said:

Even if what you say is true, that is far from any sort of unbecoming behaviour. Just because Dortmund want 120m, doesn’t mean we have to want to pay it. We knew that we wouldn’t pay it, and we knew that if they had not changed their stance by the end of the window, that we obviously won’t sign the player - because we knew we were not going to pay 120m.

Be that as it may, we have every right to try to negotiate a quote if we choose to. It takes two. And there is no deadline, the only deadline is the one imposed by FIFA to complete the deal. United also said that this deadline was never communicated to them by Dortmund anyway.

We could never be ‘confident’ Dortmund would give in, but we are entitled to hope that they do. And it is their right to refuse to, and the outcome of that can only be confirmed at the close of the transfer window, not some BS window that they had created. Dortmund set a deadline for us to complete a British record deal which was before our season has even finished, which was always ridiculous from the very start.

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"[...] Essentially, United did not believe Dortmund would stay firm on the price-tag of €120 million or their deadline of August 10, embarking on a long-running game of poker without realising that the Bundesliga club weren’t even at the table. United effectively sat still in the hope Dortmund would blink first and place the call they were ready to do business. Intermediaries attempted to broker a deal but were waiting on United to move, which did not happen.

Some sources felt Woodward was holding until the last moment to place an all-in bet, giving the impression of resistance in the ambition of driving the price down. But instead, United kept their chips and stayed true to their valuation. By never ruling themselves out of the deal though, United’s actions seriously annoyed Dortmund’s executives, who became even more entrenched in their position as the weeks went on.

When Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc stood at the side of their training pitches on August 10, the first day of pre-season, and said the decision on Sancho staying was “final”, one alarmed United director made a call to check whether the statement was genuine. The response was along the lines of, “What did you expect? You knew the terms.”

Hans-Joachim Watzke, Dortmund’s chief executive, is said to have personally phoned United at the start of the summer and explained very clearly how much the deal would cost and when it needed to be done by.

United privately argue that the continued conversations after that point, conducted via intermediaries Emeka Obasi and Marco Lichtsteiner, were evidence of Dortmund remaining open to a sale. But the reason for the involvement of agents is hotly disputed.

United insist Dortmund wanted talks done through Obasi and Lichtsteiner, and some believe this was so Dortmund could stick to their public stance while having a backchannel to a potential resolution. United held lengthy discussions and made known what they were willing to pay, which held a firm limit given the current economic environment.

Sources say Dortmund reject that idea and deny they ever appointed agents. Previous deals with Arsenal and Barcelona for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele respectively were based on face-to-face meetings with club counterparts." [TA]

This whole thread seems like a salty rant as to why our club isn't run as successfully and ruthless as they are ...

roonster09 said:

How hard is it to see the difference. No one said it's wrong to sign any player, this thread is about club officials talking about other club players.

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My point is there isn't any relevant difference. It's a different style that's all. The outcome is still the same.

At any upcoming transfer the buying club has to approach the player and the selling club. The moment this happens, the particular player might become unsettled, less focused and lose form.

If it's s huge transfer of a star player, transfer talks can't be kept completely secret and leaks to the press are inevitable. See the transfer saga between Dortmund and Man United regarding to Sancho.

It don't think it matters whether the president or CEO of the buying club talks about the transfer or not.
Would you prefer Hoeneß and Rummenigge denying any interest about Upamecano. And then look like liars when he will be bought anyway. They then would look like idiots in my eyes.
Anyway i believe this argument is a cultural thing. British clubs acting differently. In Germany nobody is really bothered about the "how" Bayern are doing their business except of course the opposing fans who don't want to lose their player. Still these are more annoyed about the fact to lose an important player than about the "how" they lost the player.

I personally don't care at all about the press gossip to which club Alaba will eventually move at the end of season.