Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany has spoken out after striker Nick Woltemade became the latest transfer target they missed out on to a Premier League rival
Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany has claimed that “money” is the reason why his side have missed out on several transfer targets this summer. Bayern have managed to strengthen their squad with the signings of Luis Diaz and Jonathan Tah, while teenage prospect Tom Bischof has also joined.
However, they missed out Florian Wirtz after the 22-year-old decided to join Liverpool instead and Nick Woltemade is on the verge of signing for Newcastle. And when asked why players like Wirtz and Woltemade are moving to the Premier League instead of joining Bayern, Kompany simply replied: “Money.”
His answer prompted laughter from the reporters at his press conference, but Kompany then expanded on his point and urged the entire Bundesliga to “find a way to remain competitive” with the Premier League.
“I always remember going with Burnley to the Premier League,” he explained. “We got promoted to the Premier League and all of a sudden you have TV money coming in and it’s £100m for promoted teams.
“And it [increases] for the other teams all the way to the top. So you go from a budget of £25-30m a year to all of a sudden having a budget of £120-130m for a promoted team, which would compete with the top six in the Bundesliga.
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“At Burnley, we were competing on the market with Frankfurt and Wolfsburg for players and we had just come up. That’s the reality. Sunderland are now buying players from Leverkusen and competing with AC Milan.
“That’s just a financial reality. Now when you have that £100m and you come into the Premier League it means nothing because everybody else has got even more.
“It’s just the nature of what they’ve been able to develop there over many years, especially with the TV money and how they’ve promoted the league internationally. I don’t think it’s a debate for just Bayern Munich, I think it’s a debate for the Bundesliga to find a way to remain competitive.
“The positive is that all the players that are going to the Premier League… it’s not like they’ve had five or six years of being top players in the Bundesliga.
“They did one or two years and then they went so it means that we’re going to have more players coming through this year and they will be the new superstars. I don’t think there will be a lack of quality.”
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Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
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