USA and beyond: Bayern Munich's search for the next Musiala

Bayern Munich has long been a powerhouse on and off the pitch in Germany. Through wealthy sponsorship deals with German giants such as Adidas, Deutsche Telekom, Allianz, and Audi, the Bavarian club has dominated German soccer with annual revenues of $895 million. In comparison, rival Bayer Leverkusen, last year’s winners of the Bundesliga title, has an annual revenue of $347 million.

While FC Bayern continues to dominate the revenue table among Bundesliga clubs in Germany, the competition to attract new players has become more of a challenge as of late.

“At least 10 or 11 Premier League clubs probably have more money than we have,” Bayern Munich Director of Youth Development Jochen Sauer said this month. For the Premier League clubs, that means more scouts, the ability to offer players more money, and better training facilities.

Yet Bayern Munich isn’t compromising on the type of youth players it wants to sign.

“We need players that are technically at the highest level because Bayern Munich is all possession,” Sauer said. “It’s probably the opposite of Red Bull football. Red Bull football is very intense, [a lot of] pressing, athletic and physical. With Bayern Munich, as soon as we have the ball, we want to play with it.”

According to Sauer, the search for the next Jamal Musiala goes well beyond the country’s borders. Among them is the United States where Bayern Munich has a unique partnership.

Bayern Munich’s search for exceptional talent

“It is very logical for us to try to get to the most interesting talent markets [including the United States],” explained Sauer. “In my eyes, if you compare MLS today to ten years ago, there’s been a huge improvement. There is a lot of talent in soccer in the United States so we said ‘We need to get into the US market.’

“We started a partnership in 2018 with FC Dallas and the Hunt family. It was very successful in terms of bringing players to Europe. Chris Richards is one example. Now he’s playing in the Premier League for Crystal Palace.

“But Dallas was not ready at that time to go outside of the United States, to cover other markets such as South America and Europe. So we decided in 2021 to change partnerships in MLS. Now we are together with LAFC, a very ambitious club. One of the best teams in MLS at present.

“We’ve founded a joint venture Red&Gold Football, which is based in Munich. It’s a 50/50 joint venture with LAFC. Our focus is now the [North] American, South American, and African markets to develop talent for Bayern Munich and LAFC.”

Bayern Munich’s unique partnership with LAFC

FC Bayern’s partnership with LAFC is unique.

“One of the reasons why we have this partnership with LAFC, especially in California, is because they have a very close connection to North and South America,” Sauer said. “So we share a little bit of the responsibilities. LAFC oversees more of the South American market because they have their scouts on the ground in South America. They have a lot of players in their team from South America and North America. We, [Bayern Munich], oversee the European and African market.”

That division of responsibilities allows both clubs to focus on key geographic areas instead of getting bogged down trying to scout worldwide.

A perfect example of this is in South America, where last year Red&Gold Football became the majority shareholder of Racing Club de Montevideo, a club in Uruguay’s top division.

Individual pathways for players

In September, Red&Gold Football loaned a talented Argentina striker named Tomas Veron Lupi from Montevideo to Grasshopper Club Zurich in the Swiss Super League. The majority owner of Grasshopper is LAFC, who purchased more than 90% of the shares in the company earlier this year.

Asked how the decision was made to determine if a player like Lupi moves to either Bayern Munich or LAFC, Sauer told World Soccer Talk, “It always depends on the individual and the quality of the player. It could be that he goes directly to Europe.

“If we feel that the move to LA would be the best in terms of getting more integrated into a different culture and learning the English language, then it could be the right pathway to move the player to LA where you can speak Spanish and English, and where he can learn English, and then come to Germany where it would be easier for him to integrate and adapt in Germany. We always try to develop an individual pathway for each player.”

In Lupi’s case, the decision was made that the 24-year-old was ready to move directly to Europe.

Playing time challenges for youth players in Germany

Discovering the next Jamal Musiala is like finding a diamond in the rough. The talented attacking midfielder began playing football in Germany until the age of seven before moving to England, where he lived for the rest of his childhood. His first academy in England was at Southampton, but soon after, he joined Chelsea’s academy before moving to Bayern Munich.

While Sauer is certainly focused on developing the next Musiala, playing in Germany does have its challenges compared to England, France, and Portugal.

“I would rate our academy system [in Germany] on the same level as English and French academies,” Sauer said. “Our biggest problem is getting those players into [professional] men’s football [matches].

“If you look at the average age of a French Ligue 2 team, it’s an average of 21 or 22 years old. They are far better at integrating players into men’s football. It’s the same in England. You have a very strong Championship, League One and League Two. 

“I think having five regional leagues in Germany and a third league with an average age of way over 25, and a Bundesliga 2 age average of over 26, those are the problems in Germany. If you compare an English Championship team to a Bundesliga 2 club, you will find out that the average age is much younger. They give a platform for their [younger] players.

“We have 56 academies in Germany. If they all develop one player good enough for the Bundesliga, where should they play? There is simply no platform for those players. I think we lose the most talent as soon as they are coming out of the academy system, having no club where they can prove their quality or where they can get playing minutes. That’s a huge advantage of the French, Portuguese, and English systems.”

Searching for the next Musiala – Parting thoughts

Playing time challenges aside, Bayern Munich has created a joint-venture partnership where it’ll be fascinating to see what Red&Gold Football produces. Can LAFC unearth a raw talent who’ll be transformed into the next Bayern Munich star, or vice versa? Only time will tell.

Photo: IMAGO / MIS