Bayern Munich

Reuniting Bayern Munich with silverware

Bayern has money. They always have and they always will. Given that they should spend some more like they did two years ago. Toni & Klose got old after their domestic double of 2007-08, while Ribery has proven his value in titanium. Now they have to keep their superstar happy and buy around him, or sell him and buy replacement parts. No matter what, here’s some thoughts on how to build around him as a right winger (based on the incoming parts, though, this 4-4-2 will look a lot like a 4-2-2 wide-2, or maybe a shifting 4-3-3 like Barcelona plays):

In: Already: F Mario Gomez (Stuttgart) for €30M, F Ivica Olic (Hamburg) on a free.

More: Midfielders Van der Vaart & Sneijeder from Real Madrid (probably a cut rate of €40M for both could work), Werder Bremen’s German national central defender Mertesacker could be bought for €15-20M, probably (*ok, they have Lucio and don’t need him, but at this point they might as well just become Galactico-lite), and right-back Dario Srna from Shaktar Donetsk for another €14M, replacing (for no good reason, possibly, except that THEY DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING and got crushed 5-1 by Barcelona in this year’s Champions League quarterfinals.

Out: Toni

Maybe: and if Ribery still hates life after the team changes their whole makeup to be this strong, then sell him for crazy money (€70M?), buy AZ Alkmaar's Stijn Schaars for €14M to play right wing, and save the rest for the winter window in case of injuries. Or buy Peter Cech. Whatever.
Total outlay: €100 million. Or for just €44M (€56M less) if they are forced to sell Ribery.

Squad: 4-4-2
Olic --- Gomez
Ribery --- Sneijder --- Van der Vaart --- Schweinsteiger
Lahm --- Lucio --- Mertesacker --- Srna
Rensing

Subs: Demichelis, Van Buyten, Ze Roberto (if he sticks around), Van Bommel, Klose
Younger, faster, more skilled, better. More expensive, yes, but better.

They’ll win the title, maybe the cup, and lose no earlier than the quarterfinals of the Champions League. And they can always sell players later. It’s not like they’re going to get better by playing for Bayern Munich. You saw what they did to poor Lukas Podolski, right?
Germans, Dutch, Croatians become the core of the team. They still have a Brazilian, but he plays defense, so that doesn’t really count. Ribery is the French flair of the team. If they want to make the semis or by some miracle go after the actual CL trophy, they can’t lose him.
Oh, and Sneijder is pretty good. He was Holland’s engine at Euro 2008. I don’t know if he’d leave Spain for Germany, though. Nothing personal, but I wouldn’t. I like Munich, but I loved Madrid.