Well one of the German posters above also said it had been in German media too
Jonathan Tah
- Thread starter No Love
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Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
Fair enough.
It's not about whether we could finance the deal or not. He will have better options than us and will chose between them.
Aside from that, the alternative is a player who's been one of the outstanding CB in his league for two consecutive years and would have less wages and would still be an upgrade on Evans or Lindelof.
What are his wage demands I wonder
It seems he is off to Bayern since Barca cannot guarantee that will be able to register him.
Yeah sounds about right, they are specialists in hoovering up German players at rival clubs like they will with Wirtz
Is he actually any good? Any time that I've watched Leverkusen in the past 10-12 months, they've looked quite poor at the back.
Eh? Tah is out of contract and it seems he preferred Barca. But you do you I guess.
He is good to very good (not amazing or world class) and an upgrade over Dier. Kim is the issue at Bayern. He seems lost.
I‘d feel safer with Upa and Tah as CBs than with Kim in there.
I fully expected him to join you over BarcaEh? Tah is out of contract and it seems he preferred Barca. But you do you I guess.
Cheers. It aligns with whatever I've observed of him as well when I've seen him play. Seems a good signing on a free but surely Bayern (or Barca for that matter) could do with a more world class signing at CB given their ambitions next season really should be to win the Champions League?
Any time a team gets competitive and gives Bayern a fight for a title they just take their best players off them
Annoying as feck that German league
Annoying as feck that German league
Cue him playing well & then the CAF complain why we didn’t get him
Though in this case it’s quite obvious that the players would have left anyway, Bayern or not. Which leads us to the actual issue. And that is that there is no other club big enough to hold on to talented players for a while. Us being able to grab them is a symptom of an issue that runs deeper. There just isn’t another huge city with a financially lucrative environment with a top club. The fact that among the biggest challengers we’ve had are clubs like Bremen and Gladbach shows that. No matter how well they work, they could never challenge us in any way.
We’d need for Dortmund to stabilise and Hamburg to become good in order to have someone challenge us. Both won’t happen, I think.
Otherwise, the league is basically like La Liga, but without a second top club. Dortmund are Atlético and we are one of Barca or Real.
As annoying as both, I'd say
If we acted like Real or Barca, the other fans in Germany would burn our stadium down.As annoying as both, I'd say
I agree with that in principle. Lack of international interest in the league keeps clubs from growing to a financially competitive level, lack of financial capabilities of Bayern's runner ups prevent international audiences from being interested in the league. Personally, I think it would help a lot if Bayern enforced a "no transfers from direct rivals" policy upon them in order to prevent confirming the farmer league stereotypes but I'm aware that this alone wouldn't solve the issue. Still, the reactions in this thread tell you a lot about the image of the Bundesliga and that's definitely a part of the problem as well. Think the only long-term solution can be a European-wide salary cap because the Bundesliga is simply ahead of its time in terms of financial gap. Eventually, the other leagues will suffer from the same issue in a system in which success increases the likelihood of further success.
Anyway, to me it seems as if Tah prefers a challenge away from his home country it seems but if that doesn't unfold, he'll take the chance at Bayern before moving to a club that doesn't belong in the upper echelon with realistic ambitions to win the UCL and/or big domestic league titles. It would be very weird to see him in a Bayern shirt after the very emotional farewell he had. Apparently, the ultras didn't prepare a choreo for him because of the possibility of a Bayern move so he'd definitely be whistled at when he returns. Which would be a real shame, he's a super likeable guy and deserves much better than that.
Tah. Is. Out. Of. Contract.
Which. Makes. It. Worse.
Leverkusen dont even get a fee and Bayern could get their best defender.
I agree about the issue and the damage to the league’s reputation. I just don’t see how it can be salvaged. Our commercial income is so huge, that I don’t see how anyone could come close to that and I don’t see how the league could regulate that.
Basically we would need for Hamburg to get a competent and benevolent investor for things to change.
Well, yes. But that is not what the post was about. Tah is off to Barca, Real or Bayern anyways. It is not Bayern "stealing" him, it is Tah leaving.
On the flip side cant fault Bayern for doing it though, from their side its actually genius.
We didn't get him because he would have never come to us, so no point in your post.
And what's more, a year or two of challenging for or even winning the title does nothing at all to close that gap. And if a team that isn't Bayern is doing really well then it will get picked apart in due time, just like Bayer appears to be this year, because no other club has the financial means to hold onto the players. Even if Bayern doesn't grab them, then there's plenty of other big vultures circling. Or, like in Tah's case, a player using them as a springboard to a bigger club and just not extending their contract with them if they see a chance for a bigger destination.
Respectable journo linking us to him, wouldn’t speak unless there was *some* interest.
The CAF wrote him off, there’s the point in the post.
I see you keep moving the goalposts. First you think a new CB is unnecessary (which is foolish considering we're about release 2 senior CBs go), then you went on about him wanting excessive wages (which we can actually afford it), now you're saying he definitely isnt coming here simply because he have better options?
the two senior CBs barely played any role. Also, I have always said that Tah would have better options. I didn't add it just now. In no universe he would say yes to us while Bayern and Barca are interested. And no, it's not the same case as it was with Yoro.
Commercial revenues are key as @HTG pointed out. And commercial revenues live off your brand. For that, success is the biggest factor. We've more than doubled our memberships since 2023 and our social media followers grew by 52% in 2024 alone. I found no merchandise numbers but anything else than a record breaking year would surprise me heavily. It also allows teams to hold onto their players longer. It seems unlikely now but Wirtz could go into his seventh season with us, which is mindblowing, and other players stayed much longer than they used to as well, for instance Hincapie. And your brand growth profits massively from those players. But of course it is very difficult to win something when you have a behemoth like Bayern in your league. And from a marketing point of view, a Bundesliga title is sort of "wasted" on Bayern because it is not accompanied by the same amount of hype and growth. Just a five year cycle with much variety at the top could put a handful of clubs in completely different economic positions.
But I also think that the runner-ups should rethink their attitude towards selling their best players. You often read that a club has to sell a player because of a good offer or the contract situation but you shouldn't underestimate the value that a player who is a pillarstone for your team brings to the club. We renounced €25M for one additional season of Tah last summer but made €52M in CL prize money alone, not including indirect revenue through additional match days, better sponsorship deals, attractiveness for new players and so forth. On the other hand, the effects of mega transfers like Bellingham or Sancho have often just deflagrated because you have to pay much higher fees due to a weak bargaining position and new players not working out. Plus, you can't increase your wage bill because of a mega sale since those revenues are not plannable. Better miss out on a crazy fee than failing to qualify for the UCL, IMO.