Robert Lewandowski

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Varun

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Why is it clueless? There surely has to be question marks over a league where Dortmund's two best players have chosen to leave the club to join its main competitor. And this is not an Arsenal-style situation where the Dortmund team that has been unsuccessful for a long period (nor showed signs of being unsuccessful any time soon) either. At least with the Barca/Real duopoly they share equal billing and one team's players aren't seeking to move to the 'bigger' club.

Where exactly can the competition come from in Germany?

It takes time to build a club, Dortmund's recent success aside, Bayern are considerably the bigger club and more importantly, pay a lot more. How does that make the league pointless?
 

amolbhatia50k

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Sad to see dortmund lose one of their best but this one was coming for a long time. He will be amazing for bayern sadly. Hopefully they replace him well.
 

Oggmonster

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It takes time to build a club, Dortmund's recent success aside, Bayern are considerably the bigger club and more importantly, pay a lot more. How does that make the league pointless?

I think you've kind of answered it yourself. From the outside in it looks like Bayern now basically have a monopoly on all the best players. Whilst I don't think the league is pointless it is a bit worrying that all the best players from the number 2 side end uip playing for the number 1 side. It's a bit like Spain where pretty much all the best Spanish players end up at Madrid or Barca, if they don't go there they leave the country. I could see similar happening in Germany, just with 1 side instead of 2.
 

Varun

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I think you've kind of answered it yourself. From the outside in it looks like Bayern now basically have a monopoly on all the best players. Whilst I don't think the league is pointless it is a bit worrying that all the best players from the number 2 side end uip playing for the number 1 side. It's a bit like Spain where pretty much all the best Spanish players end up at Madrid or Barca, if they don't go there they leave the country. I could see similar happening in Germany, just with 1 side instead of 2.

They do have a sort of monopoly as it'l take time for Dortmund to catch up. But with the huge amount of talent in Germany atm, Bayern wont be able to get them all. Dortmund just needs to maintain their success, they'l be able to keep their best ones and get new ones then.
 

Balu

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So he changed his mind. He was shocked about his own words, when he saw the interview on tv. He only wanted to say, he's definitely leaving and he can't sign a contract before January 2nd. But he really didn't want to name a specific club. :lol:

Ffs. He's of course a brilliant signing for my club, it's even better on a free. But I really hate the guy, I would love it if a sugardaddy club came in and offered crazy money and because of that he again changed his mind and chose them over us.
 

shaggy

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Bayern have such a great pull at the moment. Something I don't think we capitalised as well as we could have done when we won the Champions League in 2008.
 

Sarni

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So he changed his mind. He was shocked about his own words, when he saw the interview on tv. He only wanted to say, he's definitely leaving and he can't sign a contract before January 2nd. But he really didn't want to name a specific club. :lol:

Ffs. He's of course a brilliant signing for my club, it's even better on a free. But I really hate the guy, I would love it if a sugardaddy club came in and offered crazy money and because of that he again changed his mind and chose them over us.
He's an utter twat. Text messages from his agent to Watzke have leaked, he called him inhuman and unethical and said that he wants to leave as soon as possible. Incredible really, Dortmund have made him the player he is and he's shown no gratitude whatsoever.
 

Melvyn

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In other shocking news, BILD is reporting that he will join Bayern on a 4 year contract and earn 11m Euros a season.
 

strongwalker

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Lewandowski apparently was interviewed by a renowned TV pundit on polish TV - Mateusz Borek. In the interview, he said he would chose "Bayern or Real", apparently he has offers from both. Borek twittered afterwards Lewa would go ,he said he would chose Bayern or Real.
Borek twittered after the interview: On Jan 2nd Lewa will sign a contract with Bayern for 4-5 years. He has committed to Bayern although Real bettered their offer a couple of times. He will stay at BVB until the end of the season"
 

adexkola

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They do have a sort of monopoly as it'l take time for Dortmund to catch up. But with the huge amount of talent in Germany atm, Bayern wont be able to get them all. Dortmund just needs to maintain their success, they'l be able to keep their best ones and get new ones then.
How so? In the past 2 years Bayern have nicked Gotze and Lewandowski off Dortmund, world class players. How can any club be expected to compete with such a disadvantage? Dortmund will get replacements, but all the investment in those 2 players are lost.

At least Bayern isn't a sugar daddy club. That would just be awful then.
 

RedSky

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How so? In the past 2 years Bayern have nicked Gotze and Lewandowski off Dortmund, world class players. How can any club be expected to compete with such a disadvantage? Dortmund will get replacements, but all the investment in those 2 players are lost.

At least Bayern isn't a sugar daddy club. That would just be awful then.

If a player like Oscar had a buyout clause of 30 million, I think we'd jump in too! Dortmund were pretty naive with the Gotze buyout clause imo. Still, 30 million isn't bad! Criminal what they've done with Lewandowski though.
 

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Lewandowski apparently was interviewed by a renowned TV pundit on polish TV - Mateusz Borek. In the interview, he said he would chose "Bayern or Real", apparently he has offers from both. Borek twittered afterwards Lewa would go ,he said he would chose Bayern or Real.
Borek twittered after the interview: On Jan 2nd Lewa will sign a contract with Bayern for 4-5 years. He has committed to Bayern although Real bettered their offer a couple of times. He will stay at BVB until the end of the season"

The story was different. The was no interview yet Borek did tweet that Lewandowski was moving to Bayern. Lewandowski denied the story though.
 

Balu

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How so? In the past 2 years Bayern have nicked Gotze and Lewandowski off Dortmund, world class players. How can any club be expected to compete with such a disadvantage? Dortmund will get replacements, but all the investment in those 2 players are lost.

At least Bayern isn't a sugar daddy club. That would just be awful then.
How is the investment lost? Those players helped them turn a midtable club into a domestic top team competing in Europe against the very best while the financial side of the club jumped to incredible heights. One of them earned peanuts in comparison to what players of his quality earn in the game today and the other brought 36m into the club.

I don't really understand what people expect of a club growing naturally over years instead of being pushed to the top by a sugardaddy? It's a normal progress and the goal isn't 'not selling to Bayern', because when the same players leave for Spain or England they haven't gained anything. Bayern will then buy someone else, big deal. Where's the difference for Leverkusen when they sold Vidal to Juve instead of Bayern or how does it matter for Bremen that they sold Özil to Real and Diego to Juve or for Wolfsburg that they sold Dzeko to City? The problem isn't loosing the player to a rival, it's loosing the player in general. Dortmund are now in a position that no German club other than Bayern was in for more than a decade. They are finanically growing to a level that will allow them to compete with the 2nd tier of European clubs, play in a very attractive, strong league and have lots of quality German talents available to build on. They need to take that chance and continue their good work, then they can grow into a European top team, but it won't happen overnight, it takes 5-10 years and there will be one or two bad years inbetween.

The good thing is, that ride is actually possible in Germany without sugardaddy clubs jumping ahead of them out of nowhere, and I'm sure it's an amazing time for their fans, even though there's a bit frustration mixed in as well.
 

Sultan

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Where's the difference for Leverkusen when they sold Vidal to Juve instead of Bayern or how does it matter for Bremen that they sold Özil to Real and Diego to Juve or for Wolfsburg that they sold Dzeko to City? The problem isn't loosing the player to a rival, it's loosing the player in general.
Under normal circumstances any club having a choice would not want to sell their best players to a rival. They would preferably sell to a different league than making your main rivals stronger even if the transfer fees gained were equal.
 

Maciej

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The story was different. The was no interview yet Borek did tweet that Lewandowski was moving to Bayern. Lewandowski denied the story though.
But it's obvious they spoke about it, he told him the news and, as he can't confirm anything until January, Borek felt he could tweet it.
 

Balu

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Under normal circumstances any club having a choice would not want to sell their best players to a rival. They would preferably sell to a different league than making your main rivals stronger even if the transfer fees gained were equal.
Of course, it sucks for several reasons and the fans have every right to be pissed at the players for being cnuts, but it usually doesn't matter for the development of the club, unless it's a choice between staying or going. For Dortmund's development as a club, it doesn't really matter if Götze left for Barca, Real, City, Chelsea or Bayern, because he wanted to leave anyway. Same with Lewandowski now. Actually, the fact that players of that quality are now interested in staying in Germany really helps Dortmund because they benefit from having a brilliant team within the league. When for example Diego chose Juve over Bayern in 2009, it was a sign for the league not being attractive enough to keep their best players and Bremen had no chance to sign quality replacements like Dortmund are doing now.
 

Sandikan

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Don't joke Nahealai...that could happen if we don't do something very soon!
 

JaffyJoe

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They should have sold him last season and gotten payed. They have struggled badly this season with injuries but I think Aubameyang is his long term replacement and in the long run they will be fine. Bayern are only missing a quality striker from being the best team on FIFA :drool: .
 

Balu

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Finished top of a very difficult CL group ahead of the team that's top of the league in England, 4th in the league with a good chance of finishing 2nd, still in all competitions. How is that struggling badly? Selling Lewandowski could have meant going out in the CL and not having a chance to finish in the top 4, which would have been way way worse for their development than the situation they're in now (which isn't really that bad despite their injuries). They only need to replace one attacking player next season, sucks but is far from as difficult as rebuilding the whole attack by loosing the two best attacking players the same year and easily worth loosing out on a few millions.
 

Sphaero

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Of course, it sucks for several reasons and the fans have every right to be pissed at the players for being cnuts, but it usually doesn't matter for the development of the club, unless it's a choice between staying or going. For Dortmund's development as a club, it doesn't really matter if Götze left for Barca, Real, City, Chelsea or Bayern, because he wanted to leave anyway. Same with Lewandowski now.
Of course it does matter and not only from an emotional standpoint. It does effectively lower the chances for national titles, which are not the primary goals of them but still of course something the players play for if given the chance. Not only lose they quality, but the biggest favourite gains that quality.

In Lewandowski´s case it is even about a lot of money, because according to multiple sources both Chelsea and Real made offers between 30 and 35 Mil €, which Dortmund would have accepted, if Lewandowski would have been willing to transfer. At that point he was already Bayern-bound, though, because they probably promised him enough (salary and cash for signing) to make him unapproachable for any other club.

That left Dortmund with two choices: keep him for another year and let him go for free or sell him last summer for a price Bayern could dictate (certainly way below his actual value), because Lewandowski was already certain to join them anyway and he is by all means a luxury buy and not someone they absolutely need.



Actually, the fact that players of that quality are now interested in staying in Germany really helps Dortmund because they benefit from having a brilliant team within the league. When for example Diego chose Juve over Bayern in 2009, it was a sign for the league not being attractive enough to keep their best players and Bremen had no chance to sign quality replacements like Dortmund are doing now.
You can´t be serious....

First of all the comparision between Bremen and Dortmund holds no ground, because the difference in pulling power is not because of the Super Bayern, but because Dortmund is simply more attractive. They have reached a financial level that Bremen even in their strongest period could even dream of. Bremen simply did not have the same growth potential because their fanbase is way smaller (and always was) and they also don´t have other arguments like a world class coach, a really entertaining play style or a famous stadium.

The Bundesliga did not only gain popularity because of the Bayern (they did, but not the whole league), but because after ages they finally had a serious rival, who could push them. The whole story of the rise from the ashes by Dortmund and them being able to compete with a way bigger opponent despite the financial differences was a breath of fresh air for a lot of neutrals and draw attention towards German football.

Dortmund still has the potential to cause Bayern some problems in their dominance, but they need an extraordinary season and some luck with injuries (because of the differences in squad depth) to do that. Both things did not happen this season and the end result is clear: the title race is over in December. Bayern Munich has won, because they are way too strong to feck up their lead. They can win 2/3 of their games with their B squad because even that team earns more money and did cost more than every Bundesliga team aside a handful of them. Bayern Munich has the financial power to invest more money than the whole rest of the league and did exactly that in recent years to gain their dominance. Their wage roll is higher than the 2nd and 3rd strongest teams put together.

To think that such dominance (both on the pitch and in finances) by a single team is good for the league as a whole is a weird concept. One, if not the biggest question about the outcome of the league is answered before half time. The tension in that aspect is completely gone. It makes the league in that term simply boring.

This is not even that much their fault, but I certainly won´t celebrate them for doing such good work for the popularity of the Bundesliga, because the league does not benefit that much from that. It is actually the opposite.
 

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The Bundesliga did not only gain popularity because of the Bayern (they did, but not the whole league), but because after ages they finally had a serious rival, who could push them. The whole story of the rise from the ashes by Dortmund and them being able to compete with a way bigger opponent despite the financial differences was a breath of fresh air for a lot of neutrals and draw attention towards German football.
This is very true. The Bundesliga's current high standing owes much more to Dormund than to Bayern's European dominance. Bayern's relevance has gone up and down a few times over the last decade or so and it hasn't made much difference to the Bundesliga's reputation because they have been seen as unassailably 'the only top German team'. Dortmund's period of success, the electric style with which they achieved it and the sense that they are a serious, potentially long term rival to Bayern is the real reason for the change in the way German football is viewed at the moment. Bayern reached the CL final in 2010 and with regard to the Bundesliga's reputation people barely even noticed. Last season it was the fact that both finalists were German and that both thrashed their La Liga opponents (in one leg at least) that caused such a stir.
 

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Dortmund are what we all love to see in football, a smaller club punching above their weight. They have such fantastic support from their fans, add to that the entertaining football and charismatic coach and it is no wonder they are a neutrals preference. The way they played made me want to catch more of them, first match I watched was the German Cup final 2012. It definitely matters they are losing their to best players to their direct rivals who are running away with the league already and are now going to get stronger while weakening their closest rivals.
 

Balu

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@Sphaero
You completely missed the points I was trying to make and argued against things I've never said or at least took part of what I wrote completely out of context.

The Bundesliga did not only gain popularity because of the Bayern (they did, but not the whole league), but because after ages they finally had a serious rival, who could push them. The whole story of the rise from the ashes by Dortmund and them being able to compete with a way bigger opponent despite the financial differences was a breath of fresh air for a lot of neutrals and draw attention towards German football.
I've never said anything like that, actually quite the opposite, so I don't get why you pull out such a long post to state things I've said countless times myself. Bayern benefited just as much if not more from all the changes in the league and without Dortmund using the available ressources as brilliantly as they did, Bayern most likely wouldn't be where they are now. I'm really surprised by your post and yes, I'm serious with everything I wrote, because I'm sure it's true in the way I said it. Just because I didn't mention every single contributing factor doesn't make it wrong. If you think Dortmund could have made the same development 3-4 years earlier when the league was still struggling with all sorts of things, you're just wrong, I'm sorry. Put Dortmund where Bremen was from 06-09 and they still couldn't have done what they did now, they wouldn't have attracted the same players as replacements despite more fans and more financial power than Bremen had at the time, just like Bayern wouldn't have been able to attract Martinez, Thiago or Guardiola. The league wasn't ready for teams like the Bayern and Dortmund we see today, it's that simple.
 

LR7

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It'd be akin to Rooney letting his contract run down with United and then signing for City on a Bosman.

Pure and utter bellendry.
I agree with this. Dortmund could have sold him to a foreign team this summer though, which would have gotten them money on their investment and prevented them from strengthening a domestic rival, again. Gundogan has a year left on his contract after this summer. Not suggesting that he wants to join Bayern but it'll be interesting to see if Dortmund approach the running down the contract situation differently.
 

NM

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I agree with this. Dortmund could have sold him to a foreign team this summer though, which would have gotten them money on their investment and prevented them from strengthening a domestic rival, again. Gundogan has a year left on his contract after this summer. Not suggesting that he wants to join Bayern but it'll be interesting to see if Dortmund approach the running down the contract situation differently.

No. I believe they tried, and he simply refused to go anywhere but Bayern. I remember there being stories about it
 
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