Singapore: Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti does not expect to make any additional signings this pre-season and the Italian is hoping to make a successful defence of their Bundesliga title with the current squad.
The Italian has added a number of players in the last two months, including France defender Corentin Tolisso and Colombia playmaker James Rodriguez, and he admitted he was delighted with the balance of his squad ahead of the new campaign.
“I am happy with the squad and satisfied with the players we have. We can have a fantastic season,” Ancelotti told reporters in Singapore on Wednesday, a day after his side impressed in a 3-2 victory over Chelsea in a three-team pre-season tournament.
“I am happy with how we played against Chelsea, especially the performances of Tolisso and James as it seemed like they had played with us for a long time,” he added.
“They have improved really quickly and already know our style of play and are doing a good job.” Ancelotti bristled at a second suggestion in three days that Chilean enforcer Arturo Vidal could be headed to Thursday’s opponents Inter Milan but is adopting a wait-and-watch approach towards little-used Portugal midfielder Renato Sanches.
“Anyone who thinks Vidal is leaving is wrong. He is not moving. Renato is with us all the way through pre-season and then we will make a decision. He played well against Chelsea and I hope he can continue to improve,” Ancelotti said.
Bayern’s tour of Asia has seen the club return some mixed results with a penalty shoot-out loss to Arsenal followed by a 4-0 thrashing by AC Milan in China, before an improved performance against the English champions in Singapore.
“There are good things about this tour and we could have had more players after (Arjen) Robben and (Jerome) Boateng didn’t make the trip, and we picked up a couple of injuries,” he added.
“But the games against Arsenal and Chelsea were really good, we didn’t play well against AC Milan but in the end the condition of the players has improved.
“We have one week to prepare for the German Super Cup (against Dortmund on August 5) and we will not be at 100 per cent like last year but we have a chance to win and we want to win.”
But Bayern will not attempt to win anything by entering a bidding war for star footballers, the German champions’ boss Uli Hoeness said, describing skyrocketing transfer prices as “madness”.
“I don’t want to buy a player for 150 or 200 million euros, I don’t want to join in such madness. That’s something that we will refuse totally at Bayern,” Hoeness told AFP’s sports subsidiary SID in Singapore.
The five-time Champions League winners are even willing to lower their ambitions.
Hoeness said the club “could not set as a goal” a victory at the Champions League as long as “such madness is gripping the transfer market”.
Hoeness sounded a warning against a backlash if the inflationary trend continued in the transfer market.
“I wonder if spectators will accept this in the long-term and managers too should ask if all this is reasonable,” noted the Bayern boss.
Hoeness added that the club would unveil the name of its new sport director “in coming weeks” to fill the post left vacant after Mathias Sammer departed a year ago.
German media report that former Dutch international Mark van Bommel and ex-star attacker for Germany, Miroslav Klose, are likely candidates.
And a day after Diego Maradona admitted his famous ‘Hand of God’ goal at the 1986 World Cup would have been ruled out had video assistant referees (VAR) been used back then, Bayern defender Mats Hummels has backed the implementation of the system.
“I like it. I like the idea of getting the win in the end that was earned on the pitch and not by a wrong decision,” the defender said.
“Maybe we could implement it in a similar way to how they do it in tennis ... you can get one, two or three challenges per half as a coach.
“I am happy I don’t have to make the decision how it should be introduced as I don’t yet have a perfect solution. I think there is a way to put it in football to ensure there is greater justice.”
