The move isn’t official yet but should Bayern fans be okay with Hummels leaving BVB?

Short Answer: Yes

Long Answer: It is a bit more complicated than that

Overall Skill/Experience:

This part should be obvious I mean this IS Mats Hummels we are talking about.

Here’s a general summary of his skills/experience:

The best tackler in the world when in form

Can make clean slide tackles coming from any angle

Great in the air and on set pieces (something Bayern struggle with)

Shows up in big games (think header vs. France in last WC)

Captain of Dortmund

Played in CL Final, won WC

Handsome as hell

Skill is no question, all Bayern fans should want Hummels for his skill. He would be as regular a starter as Boateng.

In fact, with Hummels, Bayern would have the best back four in the world; pair that with Neuer as your keeper, and defensive records will be broken.

Ethical Concerns:

Ok so yeah this is where it gets tricky. I am a Bayern fan and thus would love to have Hummels join us, but at the same time I recognize the frustration of the other teams in the league.

Taking competitor’s players:

With Hummels it would be three top players in four years years that Bayern have snatched up one from Dortmund (Götze, and Lewandowski).

However Bayern are not the only guilty ones, here are some other noteworthy Bundesliga transfers:

BVB:

Castro from Leverkusen

Reus from Gladbach

Wolfsburg:

Kruse from Gladbach

Draxler from Schalke

Leverkusen:

Papadopoulos from Schalke

Kampl from Dortmund

Schalke:

Sam from Leverkusen

Barnetta from Leverkusen

Santana from Dortmund

As one can see there are a lot of inter-team transfers in the Bundesliga. This issue, while still important, is too common to put all the blame on Bayern.

Parity of the league

Taking your direct competitors best players is of course troubling for the parity of the league.

The gold standard of competitive leagues Premier League. Look at the season Leicester is having, and to a lesser extent West Ham. Here are some facts:

In the Bundesliga, Bayern have a 27 point lead over THIRD place (Bayer Leverkusen).

In the EPL that is the difference between first and ninth (Leicester and Chelsea…. lol).

However, I am not sure what the Bundesliga are to do about this. One thing is for sure, cutting Bayern’s spending is not the solution. Bayern aren’t even in the top-10 of big spenders of world football.

Let’s look at some data from transfermarkt.

Biggest spenders in transfer market over the past 5 years:

Manchester City: 752.95 million Euros Chelsea: 691.20 million Euros Manchester United: 587.56 million Euros

Now we will skip a few:

10. AS Roma: 382.51 million Euros

And finally:

13. FC Bayern Munich: 342.90 million Euros

Last summer Bayern were outspent by every club still in Champion’s League (City spent over 200 million euros), and numerous others like Monaco, AC Milan, and PSG.

There has to be some understanding that if it wasn’t Bayern luring Hummels away it would certainly be another club with a ridiculous transfer fee and high wages.

Conclusion

Fans should be thrilled, yet wary of the arrival of Hummels. His skill will no doubt lead Bayern on to greater success. However his purchase and the general power of big clubs in both drawing in players, and vastly outspending smaller clubs is something that should set off alarms in every football fan’s head.

Agree/Disagree? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers!