Barcelona have been the talking point of the football world recently following their high-profile acquisitions of Leeds United’s Raphinha and Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski. While discussing the Pole’s departure, Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann fired shots at Barcelona’s economic state and the way the Catalans have done business this summer.
FC Barcelona’s difficult economic struggles and constraints are no longer a secret. Last August, they had to part ways with the best player in their history, Lionel Messi. Barcelona also had to let go of players like Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho and were on a sort of emergency mode as far as transfers were concerned last season.
However, one year later, things have taken a dramatic turnaround. Not only have Barcelona completed mega signings of players like Raphinha and Lewandowski with plenty of financial prudence, they have also appeared as big players on the market.
Barcelona’s activities have also left a lot of clubs frustrated this season. Included among them are Bayern, who had to lose the greatest goalscorer of their modern era in Lewandowski to Barcelona.
Therefore, when the Bavarians’ head coach took to the press room ahead of the first pre-season game against DC United, he wasn’t keen on mincing words and took direct shots at the Spanish club.
When asked about how Barcelona were able to complete the signings of multiple expensive players for big money, Naglesmann curtly answered, “I don’t know how.” He even went on to add:
“’It’s the only club in the world that doesn’t have money but can buy any player – it’s crazy to me.”
With the departure of Lewandowski, Bayern have lost a player who scored over 30 league goals in each of the last three seasons. While many believe that they will lack the usual cutting edge in front of goal that the Polish striker provided, Nagelsmann has assured that Bayern will continue to find the back of the net as they still have plenty of strong attackers. The club also signed Sadio Mane from Liverpool earlier this summer in a neat piece of business.
