The stage is set for the giants’ clash in the Champions League semi-finals, a meeting that also takes place between German and French football. Former Bayern boss and football nestor in Germany, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, uses the opportunity to point out two of the PSG players Bayern worked seriously to bring to Munich.
The two players are Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué.
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In an interview with t-online, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern’s CEO at the time, reflects on why the club failed to secure Dembélé.
“I was still the CEO when we tried to sign Dembélé. We – and above all our sporting director at the time, Michael Reschke – wanted him very much, but Dortmund got there first,” Rummenigge begins.
-He played for Stade Rennes at the time. The club owners also owned Puma. Dortmund had a Puma shirt deal, so they had an advantage. As an Adidas club, we were not preferred. He was a great talent, but as we have seen, he quickly left Dortmund for Barcelona. There is no doubt that he is a very good player, but he is also someone who needs guidance, Rummenigge reminisces.
Eight years later, in 2024, Bayern attempted to sign another highly-rated French talent, Désiré Doué, also from Stade Rennes, but PSG won the race. Rummenigge explains:
“We would have liked to sign him – he would have been a very good fit for us. But he chose Paris because he wanted to stay in his French homeland. In the future, we will also miss out on players because more money can be paid elsewhere. You have to accept that, because it’s part of the business. As you can see, both Paris and we can live well with our situations.
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