Italy sure is nice this time of year...

As you might have heard, Bayern had a friendly today against some folks in Trentino. In much the similar fashion as Bayern defeated the Paulaner XI a few months ago, we won by a sizable margin. So here are the highlights, the low points, and other happenings...

Good Things:
*New signing Nils Petersen scored a hat trick. Glad to have you, sir.
*Gomez, Schweinsteiger and Kroos all had braces.
*Also scoring were Tymo (!!!), Robben, Gustavo, Olic (!!!), Koz, and Pranjic.
*Lots of people got a chance to play (Petersen, Bastian Muller, Koz) and Jupp got a chance to play around with the lineup a bit. Pretty much the entire team changed over at the half.
*In a sight rarely seen, both Robben and Ribery wore the armband. So I guess we now know who the 2nd and 3rd vice captains are with Miro's departure.

Bad Things:
*Some fans felt the need to greet Manu Neuer with a banner that proclaimed that they will never accept him in a Bayern jersey. In other news, it's happened and you all need to get over it.
*Muller and Breno weren't able to play because of injuries. Hopefully they'll heal soon.

Other Happenings:
*We still haven't signed Boateng.
*Coentrao went to Real Madrid.
*Several players have come out against signing Vidal. My two cents? When Tymo decides to retire, sure. Until then? Our DM is good with Basti, Tymo, and Gustavo as a back up.

belatedly, sam makes a post

oh hello again. it's been quite some time since I last updated and a whirlwind road trip around Southern Italy fell somewhere between now and my last post, but the truth is, I have been home for a few weeks now. I've just been horribly, fabulously lazy. Putzing around Munich doing nothing much outside of drinking beer and walking my dog. It's been relatively quiet on the definitive news front but there have been some developments to take note of.

• the aforementioned prospective Rafinha deal is all set to go ahead, so expect to see that official presentation in a matter of days, at the most. As mentioned by my esteemed colleague Brittany, Rafinha is a right back and this will see our pint-sized kapitän switched back over to the left flank. I always felt as if Lahm linked up better with Ribery than he did with Robben, so this could be a good thing for our offense as well as our defense, even though it's not technically Lahm's preferred position. It also has interesting ramifications for the national team, feel free to talk amongst yourselves about that.


• Neuer, Neuer, where art thou, Neuer? Rummenigge remains confident that Schalke will honor their agreement regarding Neuer's future transfer to Bayern. Bayern players are already practically referring to him as one of their club teammates. After Neuer rejected a clusterfuck of a last ditch attempt at getting him to renew his contract with Schalke (a messy affair which apparently involved Vladimir Putin, what), there's not much they can do except stall, and stalling is what they're doing while they try and find a replacement for him. It seems very much as if Schalke merely wants to drag this out a bit longer just to make it look as if they did everything they could to get Neuer to stay. It's frustrating for Bayern because I believe we want to get this transfer locked down before looking towards confirming further deals in fixing our defense, a defense that has been held together with scotch tape and hope in the past few seasons.


• speaking of further deals, Manchester City wants an absurd amount of money (I believe the figure I read was 18m?) for center back Jerome Boateng. I have a very dear friend who is a lifelong Manchester City fan and his gripes with the current management are many - I have been assured that there is no logical reasoning behind this demand, so we can assume that they're just doing it because they can. Great. I guess all we can do is wait and see.

Last but never, ever least, Franz Beckenbauer has officially retired from all held football related positions, choosing to spend more time with his family. We've all known this was coming for a while now and yet it still feels as if we're not really saying goodbye to him, because could we ever say goodbye to Herr Beckenbauer? He will always be our der kaiser. Thank you for everything, Franz.

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.

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.