Rafinha to Bayern?

After waning interest in Van der Wiel, and Fabio Coentraos (completely misguided) statement about only leaving Benfica for Real Madrid, it appears that Bayern has found a solution for their back line in Genoa right-back Rafinha.

The Brazilian (25) played for Schalke 04 for five years before transferring to Genoa in August 2010 for a fee of 9m. Yesterday, Genoa released the player, who has said he would like to return to the Bundesliga. The president of Genoa, Preziosi, confirmed Rafinha's wishes yesterday, and said, "I think we'll reach an agreement with a big Bundesliga outfit."

The transfer fee will be around 5-7m, and could be announced as soon as next week. His transfer, of course, will see Lahm return to the left-flank.

So transfers so far: Petersen, Rafinha, Neuer....who else can we expect to see in the rot und weiss next season?

Well, it's official...

...Real Madrid, at the urging of coach Jose Mourinho, have signed Hamit Altintop. Best wishes to Hamit as he joins Los Blancos!

¡Felicidades, Hamit, y buenas suerte con todo!

Willkommen Nils!

Bayern has signed 22-year old striker Nils Petersen from FC Energie Cottbus. He has signed a three year contract. He finished top scorer of 2. Bundesliga with 25 goals. He will wear the #9 jersey, last worn by Juventus striker Luca Toni. Big shoes to fill.

"If you get an offer from Bayern Munich,, then you must accept it - that goes without saying. From the first second I was set on going this way. It makes me proud that Bayern Munich is my new employer. This is something unique. I am really looking forward to the task."

Welcome Nils! Let's hope you can pay for that Burger King in Bremervörde with your new salary.

This ain't no bandwagon.

Today, Bayern played Zenit St. Petersburg. In typical fashion, we conceded an early goal and then came back to win 4-2. But it's not about the scoreline. It's about the fact that it's clear that our boys are having fun again. From the amateurs who got to make the road trip with the team, who were all smiles while hanging out with Bastian and Mario on the bench, to the amazingly hilarious way Franck and Arjen poked fun at themselves the other day against the Paulaner XI, the fun is back. It's a team the plays through injuries (hey, we see you over there Basti with your fractured toe you've been playing on FOR WEEKS) and still manages to tease the Bundesliga's top scorer about his hair (though, really, Holger, you should be careful about that as your own Bieber-esque 'do opens you to much ridicule).

In the midst of the drama that is Neuer-gate (and it should be noted that little of the drama is coming from the Bayern fans), the accusation gets thrown around that Bayern fans are bandwagon fans: we cheer for Bayern because we love the German NT and Bayern makes up the largest contingent of the NT. And maybe that is true for some people. But not for me. And not for most Bayern fans I know. I cheered for the German NT because I was a Bayern fan first.

But more than that, Bayern is more than a bunch of superstar German NT players. Ribery and Robben are both world-class international players with high profiles, too. But for a lot of us, it's the players like Tymo and Daniel Van Buyten who tug most at our heartstrings and who make us proudest (and I'm going to leave my remarks on Tymo at that, or I'll be fangirling over him for pages). It's about the work horses, the silent heroes. Bayern isn't about the superstars; it's about the heart and the team and the players who put in solid performances week after week and yet don't get the recognition of guys like Basti or Lahm. Bayern is the kind of place where one of Germany's all-time greatest strikers, Miro Klose, spends far more time on the bench than on the pitch and yet you don't see him complaining to the media. Bayern is so much more than a bandwagon.

I love the game and will watch matches I have no vested interest in simply because I love the sport. And I love cheering for Real Madrid and Liverpool and for the German NT, but the reality is, I bleed for Bayern. Nothing else makes me prouder, happier, or more frustrated than Bayern. And for Tymo and Daniel and Toni and all the others...everything is Bayern and nothing hurts.

Vielen Dank, Bayern

Another season has come to an end. Despite the ups and downs (and heart attacks in-between), my love for this team still knows no bounds. And fear not, faithful readers, we'll be here through the Audi Cup (expect a post about the ickyness of having Barca in our stadium) and transfer season (Did you know that *insert BIG NAME TEAM here* wants *insert random Bayern player here*?!?). And when the fall rolls around, we'll be decked out in the BEST.LOOKING.HOME.KIT.EVER. and cheering on our boys to a successful season.

And to the men of FC Bayern, vielen Dank. Our lives are better because of you all.

Danke Bayern.

Sanity has been restored!

+ The new kits are BEE-YEW-TIFUL

- Freiburg why you gotta own goal like that?

+ Mario may need to officially change his name to Golmez

+ Andries Jonker: undefeated

In Bayern related news:

 Mark van Bommel has won titles in four different countries:

• PSV 
• Barcelona (can we pretend this didn't happen)
• FC Bayern
• AC Milan

Everyone chew on that notion. 

I must go back to studying and a fresh pot of coffee is calling my name, a notion, that as you can see, is absolutely thrilling:

It’s transfer season!

I can’t be the only one feeling like the past few transfer seasons have been, well, boring. Luckily for us, a lackluster season brings us a busy summer, full of rumors, signings, and, at least for me, a giant headache. So as your resident Bayern-fan-who-spends-too-much-time-on-the-Internet, I will spare you the introduction and jump right in.

In?

Nils Petersen: It was reported in “Süddeutsche Zeitung” on Thursday that Petersen has agreed to a 3-year-deal. The 21-year-old (as of this Friday, alles gute, Nils!) Energie Cottbus star is the leading goal scorer in 2.Buli and the transfer fee falls in the 2.5m range. I’ve read some different on Twitter and the general consensus I’m picking up is that this is a “bad” move for the striker. Assuming Miroslav Klose makes his exit at the end of the season, Bayern is left with three strikers – Gomez, Olic, and Petersen. With a new coach coming in, it’s not as easy to guess who will be starting in the front. The obvious choice in Gomez, given his season and Olic’s injury, but we could even adopt a 4-4-2 system. It’s a little early to be making assumptions that Petersen will be riding the bench. And, well, he’s got three years to prove himself.

Fabio Coentrão: The Benfica left-back would solve our main problem on the defensive line, that’s for sure, and we were attached to him last summer, however I think this story is a bit more cloudy than what is being reported right now. Goal.com is claiming they have an “exclusive” on his signing, and that Bayern has entered negotiations regarding his transfer (for a fee of 17.5m). Coentrão has a contract until 2016, and a buy out clause that is closer to 30m. There was rumored interest in the Portuguese international by Chelsea and Real Madrid. Filing this under: I-won’t-believe-it-until-pen-hits-paper.

Gregory van der Wiel: The Ajax right-back has a similar story to Coentrão, so I’ll spare you. About a month ago it was reported that we were on the verge of signing him for 10m. I’m not a fan of Eredivisie, so I don’t know first hand, but I’ve heard he has had a lackluster season. If he were to arrive in Munich, we would see our Kapitän switch to the left. It’s important to note that Arjen Robben has endorsed VdW, and we all know how much we like to cater to the king of the wing. Filing this under: Ehhhh.

Centerback? This is a bit of a catchall. Obviously we are in need of a central defender. With Breno on his way out, we’ll only have two true CBs in DvB and Holger Badstuber. We’ve been attached to a series of names, but the one that has stuck the most in Jerome Boateng. The German international currently plays for Manchester City, who is (reportedly) adamant about not selling him. So, we’re just going to leave this open because, quite frankly, at this point I would take just about anyone.

Other names that are important to remember:
Marco Reus, Arturo Vidal, and now apparently Dale Jennings and Okay Yokuşlu. Okay, media. Okay.


Out?

Thomas Kraft has signed with Hertha Berlin, who have just been promoted to first division.

Andreas Ottl is also out of contract and is rumored to be following the goalkeeper to the capital.

Hamit Altintop is attracting interest from…Real Madrid? Los Blancos? Que? Yeah, I’m not going to get in to this. I can sympathize with a Turkish fixation, but Altintop? Madrid? Ay dios mio!

Miroslav Klose is one of two wild cards out of all of this. He is out of contract as well, and wants an extra two years. The rumor is that Bayern will offer him one year, but the signing of Petersen would say otherwise. So who knows where he’ll end up? Staying fit for the Euro Cup in 2012 is a top priority for him, and I can’t see him leaving the country. We’ll wait and see.

Mehmet Ekici is a tough transfer to swallow. He has a contract with us until 2012, and has been on loan to 1. FC Nuremberg all season. His loan has been extremely successful (I would put it almost on par with Kroos’ season with Leverkusen), and he has attracted interest from a few Bundesliga clubs. It is reported he’ll transfer to Werder Bremen for a fee of 5m.

And you guessed it; Breno is the last wild card. If you all remember, following that match in March, he tweeted about leaving the club and returning to São Paulo. All signs point to him leaving the club. I just hope we can get back half of what we paid for him.


Now, am I forgetting anyone?

Didn’t think so.

An introduction of sorts...

Hallo liebe Bayern fans! Becky, Chary, and Sam have invited me to contribute, so I hereby christen this my introduction post!

Just a few details about myself. My name is Brittany, I am a history major (with a German minor) at the University of Texas at Austin. Aside from Bayern, I enjoy Liverpool FC, footballer children, Rene Adler's chest hair...

As this is a football blog, I'll jump in to what got me to where I am today. I didn't grow up in a "footballing family." I was born in the midwest, and American football took precedence over everything. It wasn't until I was 14 did I really start to develop an interest in the real football. The 2006 World Cup came along, and seeing as the USA, well, did what the USA does best, I looked to the biggest part of my heritage and threw my full support behind die Mannschaft. And that is how my love of football began. Following the WC, I spent the next few months watching the Bundesliga, and in the end Bayern chose me. It's been a long 4-5 years, full of ups and downs, but here we are today, about to head in to our dream season, and I couldn't be happier.

I'll be back later this week to give you all a recap on all of the transfer stories swirling around FC Hollywood, from Neuer to Coentrao to Reus, and everyone in between.

Tschüss!

On Schalke, exposing my nerdy fangirl side, and keepers...

Imagine that you've just flown to visit one of your closest friends. Despite landing at an ungodly early hour, when you arrive, he's ready for the day. And that's when you inform him: for the next two hours, he's going to have to deal with the fact that Bayern are playing their biggest rivals and the Champions League is on the line and, well, you're not missing the match.

And that, friends, is more or less what happened last weekend. I had warned him the day before, but I'm not sure my friend was prepared for the screaming, yelling, overly-involved mess that is me when watching a Bayern match. Thankfully, the match went well, because I was thisclose to cussing in German on several occasions, and he was spared my full Schalke-related vitriole. I think he's still worried that I'm a little TOO passionate about the game.

But I can't help it. I love this team. Even when they're frustrating me, even when I can't make heads or tails of why certain people are playing (Pranjic) or playing out of position (half the team). I can't not care. Especially when we're playing Schalke. I realize that my hatred of Schalke is somewhat irrational (and it was weird to cheer for them in the CL...I felt dirty). But I really do hate Schalke.

That said, I'm not upset that Neuer is going to (almost certainly) be joining us. He's an incredible keeper, he has experience playing with quite a few Bayern players (as they're all on the German NT together), and he doesn't hurt the GQ factor.

More exciting, the love of my football life has extended his contract another year and will be our #2 keeper. Even for a keeper as experienced and decorated as HJB, there's nothing shabby about being Neuer's number two. And I also hope that this means the Jupp Heynckes will realize that, on occasion, it's okay to rest players. And I'm not just talking about Holger when it looks like he needs a nap...I'm talking about the fact that Basti has pretty much had no break for the past three years. Just saying.