Top 5 Bayern Munich signings of all time
Bayern Munich’s professional history began in the 1960s, which is quite late in comparison to many of Europe’s other elite clubs. As the undisputed leading German football club for most of the last 50 years however, they have a rich history of excellence and success at both domestic and continental level.
An important role in this success is a certain amount of ingenuity that they have shown in the transfer market, signing promising players at young ages or being able to attract some of the best footballers on the planet with the required amount of cash as and when that is feasible.
Bayern are, today, masters of the transfer market, and their signings rarely bomb like some signings made by clubs of similar stature. However, there are some signings that really did change the course of their history in a big way. The best 5 are:
#5 Franck Ribery:
Ribery was signed for a sum of €25 million after the 24-year-old had impressed fans at the 2006 World Cup held in Germany, before a glorious second season with French club Marseille which earned him the title of French Player of The Year (beating off competition from Thierry Henry).
Ribery quickly settled into life at the Bavarian club, acting as their attacking mainstay en route to a domestic league-and-cup double. He provided 19 goals and 17 assists and played 46 games, showing class and consistency befitting one of the greatest players of this generation.
Although he has had injury problems in most seasons after that, he has always managed to come back to the very peak of his game despite each setback. His role is most notable in Bayern’s treble-winning season, when he ran into Ballon D’Or-worthy form for the Bavarians in the calendar year of 2013.
He prefers to hug the touchline, take on fullbacks and create chances from his own zone, but his role as an inverted winger gives him the ability to venture into more central areas of the pitch. He takes handy advantage of this and is one of the most active players around the box, playing his role there to perfection.
In 9 seasons, Ribery has 106 goals and more than his fair share of assists for the Bavarians, for whom he has become a legend, and fittingly he is one of the best buys they have ever made despite having to break their transfer record for him initially.