European commentator Andy Brasseur said in an interview that Liverpool's midfielder Hrafenbecher, who has performed well this season, joined Bayern that year was actually an "accidental" rather than a "planned" signing.
Why didn’t Hrafenberch succeed at Bayern?
Grafenberch finally joined Bayern, which was not a well-thought-out signing. He had just one year left on his contract with Ajax and Bayern just felt, "Oh yeah, we might need a young midfielder and now there's an opportunity." You never felt like they had any plans for him. And you have to know that Bayern was quite chaotic during that period.
What was Bayern's midfield configuration at that time?
They were still figuring out whether to continue to pair Kimmich and Goretzka in the center of their midfield, two players who were very, very difficult to get past. There is no doubt about it. But they also had doubts about this and believed that a more pure No. 6 player was needed. Kimmich, due to his preference for playing as a full-back, even if he does not like to play at right-back, makes him more suitable for a role with more freedom than a pure No. 6 position. And he has offensive attributes that you want to take advantage of. This eventually led to their long-term pursuit of Joao Palinha, who, although they didn't end up signing, was the type of player they wanted.
So, Grafenberg was an "accident" from the beginning?
Now, speaking of Hrafenberch, because their signing of him was an accidental move rather than a planned signing, he became an afterthought. I don't think they really invested much in his development. It's a bit like what we were talking about before with Ekitic and how he learned from bad situations at PSG, Hrafenberch was in a similar situation at Bayern.
He went there and quickly realized he would have a hard time getting a chance to play. There weren’t really roles out there for him. And he was very young at the time. He is still developing as a player. At that stage, it looked like Hrafenberch was more of an attacking midfielder. Considering that Bayern also uses wingers a lot, I think there is also a question as to whether he would fit into that system.
Was he already a top player at Ajax at that time?
I think, especially when he left, he was not one of the top players at Ajax. He's a good player, but for sure, Bayern's signing of him was a surprise. It felt like that was kind of a leap for him. The final facts proved this.
Having said that, do you think his experience at Bayern will also help him?
The fact that he can adapt so well to Liverpool first shows that Bayern has done some good work on him, even if it is not enough for him to enter their first team. It kind of allowed him to develop. By the time he arrived at Liverpool he was already a much better player than he was at Ajax, simply by playing a few games at Bayern and training with them. It's clear that their coaching staff has a wealth of experience no matter which particular era they're in. There are also senior players in the team that you can learn from. You think about Kimmich himself, Goretzka, Muller, there are a lot of other players you can learn from.
From a business perspective, will Bayern make a profit or loss from this deal?
Seriously, Bayern got a pretty good deal out of this, as they sold Hrafenbecher for two and a half times the purchase price. So, really, they got a pretty good deal out of this: signing a player that, while not exactly on a whim, was certainly not part of a long-term project and more of a "let's buy this guy and see what we can mold him into" mentality. It turned out he was having a hard time integrating into the team, and they were having a hard time integrating him into the team. Then, when you find out he's not the player you want, sell him for two and a half times what you paid. This feels pretty good to us.
source:bongda 7m