FC Bayern celebrates the championship title – but the hoped-for change has not succeeded

Even at FC Bayern, a club accustomed to success, there are footballers for whom a league title is a first. This is all the more astonishing when they are players who can rightfully consider themselves world-class, like England's Harry Kane.

He joined Bayern in the summer of 2023 without ever having won a title with Tottenham Hotspur. In his first year, Bayern lost to Leverkusen. In that respect, it was almost comical that the striker wasn't even on the pitch when Bayern celebrated their league title in Leipzig on Saturday evening. Kane had earned a suspension the previous week after receiving his fifth yellow card.

He was apparently not yet sufficiently familiar with the customs and traditions of the Bundesliga at the end of his second season. He didn't know that yellow cards are not erased after the first half of the season – unlike in England. This cost Harry Kane a match, who was on the final stretch of his first title win.

A mishap that, at first glance, appears to be purely personal. Yet, it somehow also fits FC Bayern's season. Two years ago, none other than Harry Kane was signed to restore Munich to a top European club. The approximately €100 million invested in the England striker's transfer fee was intended to facilitate his renewed breakthrough.

No one will claim that Kane hasn't kept his end of the bargain. Even though he scores far fewer goals in the top games of the Champions League than in the Bundesliga, his goal-scoring rate is still impressive. Yet it's not enough to elevate Bayern to their usual level. Too many areas of the squad are lacking, and fixing this will be the biggest challenge for the German record champions in the coming months.

Recently, an expert spoke in the Bundesliga's industry magazine about his FC Bayern: "We've gone through several different transition phases, or at least that's how it feels. Since Pep Guardiola, the combination between coach and team hasn't really clicked."

He sounded like Thomas Müller, the legendary player Bayern are no longer planning to use next season . Such statements should raise eyebrows, because with the above statement, Müller describes nothing more and nothing less than a permanent upheaval that simply won't succeed.

Josep Guardiola, who was not a comfortable coach for Müller, left Bayern in 2016 and joined Manchester City. Carlo Ancelotti came after him, Jupp Heynckes stepped in, and Niko Kovac failed. Hansi Flick won the Champions League as interim coach, but both Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel failed to live up to expectations, which Vincent Kompany at least didn't completely disappoint in his first season as Bayern coach.

Such a list within nine years speaks for itself. And against this backdrop, even the greatest triumph of the last decade, the treble under Hansi Flick, currently much celebrated in Barcelona, ​​seems like an accident under fortunate circumstances. Müller reveals no secret when he explains that things weren't particularly harmonious under Flick either, as the coach, who was popular within the team, clashed with the club's management, in the form of sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic .

It is doubtful that the harmony that Müller sorely misses will return in the long run under Kompany, although the attacker gives the Belgian the best possible assessment: Kompany stands for attacking football, which both the team and the fans appreciate.

But at FC Bayern, not everything depends on style in many respects. Kompany is doomed to success, and ultimately, the coach is not solely responsible for the mood at the club. Honorary President Uli Hoeness's publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Bayern's financial situation is just as indicative of unrest as the discrepancies over the non-extension of Thomas Müller's contract.

In such an environment, a coach can provide some pacification for a while. He can't bring lasting peace. The Munich veterans will have to take care of that themselves.