23 January 2024 , 09:09
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German legend Lothar Matthaus claims Bayern Munich's recruitment goes against the club's values following their capture of Eric Dier.
The Bundesliga champions, who are in a major title battle with Bayer Leverkusen, have sought some midseason deals and added Dier from Tottenham as a result. The England international had fallen down the pecking order in north London and was seeking pastures new.
Bayern opted to land the versatile defender with Newcastle's Kieran Trippier now on their radar. Matthaus is concerned by the transfers being made by Thomas Tuchel and insists younger players need to be prioritised with obvious holes in their squad.
Matthaus told the Sky 90 podcast: "Bayern need more depth and reinforcements, but are these players reinforcements? Eric Dier wasn't necessarily a key player at Tottenham recently. I remember Uli Hoeness (Bayern's honorary president) once saying, 'We won't be bringing in any more players who are sitting on the bench at other clubs'. The latest transfer looks different."
He went on to add: "Kieran Trippier would be a similar case. That's not Bayern Munich for me. Bayern should focus on reinforcements or on the young players. Aleksander Pavlovic sat out against Bremen and wasn't substituted. When he did play, he was always outstanding.
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"Bayern Munich have very good youth players and Christoph Freund (Bayern's sporting director) is responsible for that. He has a good network. In the summer it was said, 'We can let (Benjamin) Pavard and (Josip) Stanisic go and get someone else instead', and then they didn't get anyone else.
"As a result, they've got problems at right-back and in the centre. They thought, 'We'll manage that'. No, they reacted too late. The team can't find itself."
Newcastle want to keep Kieran Trippier amid interest from Bayern Munich (Serena Taylor/Getty Images)Bayern added the likes of Harry Kane in the summer, with the striker already proving to be a huge hit. The Bavarians are having problems retaining some of their top talent though with Joshua Kimmich and Alphonso Davies both linked with exits as their contracts wind down.
Tuchel said on the club's January plans: "The positions where we have to enforce our squad are well defined. We have a right midfielder playing right-back. We'd like somebody who can help us more there (right-back)."