The Bayern youth philosophy

A common stereotype about Germany’s most successful club is that they buy their way to titles, steal the best players from other squads and make the league impotent. Many consider them to be the Bundesliga equivalent of Chelsea or Manchester City.

But while Bayern may have splashed out millions in buying the likes of Martinez, Gomez, Ribery or Robben, money alone is by no means the whole story behind Bayern’s success over the years. A more unsung part of Bayern’s storied history is their ability to breed and stick with the talent that emerges from their own youth academy. More often than not, Bayern field more home-grown players than any other team in the league. A routine five members of Bayern’s starting eleven, and nearly seven players from the entire squad, cut their teeth in Munich’s Grunwalder stadium, where Bayern’s developmental squad play their home matches. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Phillip Lahm, Toni Kroos, Diego Contento, Thomas Muller, Holger Badstuber and David Alaba alone have an combined estimated transfer value of around 145 million euros. That’s arguably worth more than any other squad in the league, and only slightly less than what Bayern paid to acquire the rest of their squad.

Bayern’s success is based on using their enormous wealth to add players of extreme worth to a core of already high value home-grown players. Youth has been extremely important and influential in teams that won the Bundesliga in recent years. Be it Dortmund in recent years with likes of Gotze, Grosskreutz, Schmelzer and Sahin, or a Stuttgart side with Gomez, Hildebrand, Tasci, Gentner and Khedira, youth players have been the backbone of these squads.

Some of Bayern youth products to leave and make it big elsewhere include the likes of Owen Hargreaves, Mat Hummels, Alou Diarra, David Jarolim, Paulo Guerrero, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Denis Yilmaz, Stefan Wessels, Piotr Trochowski, Markus Babbel and many others.

In the past, Bayern’s policy was to bring in young talented players for cheap. Bayern’s enormous wealth and its glory years of the 70s were a result of breeding talented youngsters. Be it Beckenbaur, Maier, Muller, Roth or Schwarzenbeck, all these players joined Bayern at a very young age. These teenagers went on to form the core of a side that dominated the country, and the world.

One may say that Bayern has always spend big to buy success, but the truth is that even during Bayern’s most successful years, it was the other clubs that spent big. Tagged as the ‘million Mark side’, Werder Bremen signed five established players during the 1971-72 season. These players managed to score 37 goals between them. Bayern’s Gerd Muller alone scored 40 goals in a record-breaking season. Even Bayern’s biggest rivals during the 70s, Monchengladbach, purchased matured players in the likes of Ludwig Muller, Ulrik Lefavre, Henning Jenson, Allan Simonsen and many others. Bayern, on the other hand, signed relatively unknown youngsters in Uli Hoeness, Paul Britner or even a Karl-Heinze Rummenigge. KHR was signed for a sum of 175,000 DM. Later, Inter Milan paid around 11 million, although rumours say close to 18 million, for his services.

Mario Gotze, Javi Martinez and Mario Gomez may be Germany’s most expensive transfers, but if you look at the past, it was the other clubs that spent huge. It was Cologne that first spend a million Marks for the Belgian Roger Van Gool in 1976, followed by Hamburg for Kevin Keegan in 1977, and Frankfurt’s Lajos Detari breaking the 5 million Mark record in 1987. Dortmund broke the 10 million Mark record for Heiko Herrlich in 1995, and Leverkusen were the first to pay more than 15 million for the transfer of Lucio in 2000. While Bayern may buy players from other clubs in the same league, it pays more than the surplus requirement, as seen in the cases of Gomez or Neuer. It also has acted as the good Samaritan to other clubs in financial crisis, as seen in the case of Dortmund, to whom they lent 2 million euros when they needed it the most.

Bayern did not expand their empire by money alone. Smart transfers, good business management (Bayern were the leagues first team to appoint a business manager in 1966) and, most importantly, a coveted youth structure together led to their success over the years. They are debt-free institution and a role model for many clubs to follow.