Bayern Munich's Summer Transfer Struggles: Missing Out on Barcola and Gordon

Bayern Munich went hunting for wide firepower this summer. They came back empty-handed – and watched two of their main targets light up the market elsewhere.

Bayern step aside as prices explode

Bradley Barcola and Anthony Gordon were both high on Bayern’s list as Vincent Kompany looked to inject pace and unpredictability into his attack. The club did their homework, opened conversations, and weighed up the numbers.

The numbers killed the deals.

Barcola ended up completing a staggering £123 million move to Liverpool, drafted in as the man to follow Mohamed Salah’s era-defining nine-year spell at Anfield. Gordon, meanwhile, left Newcastle for Barcelona in a £69m switch, another marquee winger off the table for the German champions.

Speaking to Sport Bild, Bayern sporting director Max Eberl laid out just how long he has tracked Barcola.

"To be honest, I already know Bradley from my time at Leipzig. I wanted to bring him to Leipzig," he said. Those early talks built a bond. "We sat down together and discussed it back then. That’s how I developed a closer relationship with Bradley. So there was always interest there. Of course, we also looked into him at Bayern."

Interest, yes. Capacity to match Liverpool’s offer, no.

"When you hear about sums like that, it was too much for us," Eberl admitted of the £123m fee. "With Luis Diaz, we made a decision that was also costly, but on a different scale than Bradley."

The same pattern played out with Gordon.

"It’s no secret that we were interested in Anthony Gordon for the left wing," Eberl conceded. "We decided we were not doing that because he was simply too expensive."

Bayern had identified the right profiles. The market simply sprinted away from them.

Liverpool land their Salah successor

At Anfield, the calculation was very different. Liverpool needed a statement signing to absorb the shock of Salah’s departure. They made Barcola their priority and were willing to go where Bayern would not.

The France international, a two-time Champions League winner with Paris Saint-Germain, wanted the move. That desire helped Liverpool fend off serious interest from Arsenal and close a deal that instantly reshapes their forward line.

The price tag is eye-watering. Barcola becomes the second-most expensive signing in Liverpool history, behind only club-record arrival Alexander Isak. With that fee comes expectation: he is not just another winger; he is the player tasked with helping to bridge the post-Salah gap.

Under Andoni Iraola, Barcola has already begun to settle. He made his debut off the bench, replacing fellow new signing Victor Munoz on the hour in a 2-0 away win at Ipswich. The cameo was enough to earn him a first start on Wednesday night.

On the Champions League stage against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, he offered glimpses of why so many clubs chased him. Direct running. Sharp movement. A willingness to take responsibility in tight spaces. Liverpool edged it 2-1, with Alexis Mac Allister striking the decisive second-half goal.

Barcola didn’t see out the game. Cramp forced his withdrawal shortly after Mac Allister’s winner, a reminder that Iraola will have to manage his minutes and conditioning carefully as he adjusts to the Premier League tempo and the demands of a central attacking role in a rebuilt frontline.

Bayern’s reset after missing out

For Bayern, the failure to land either Barcola or Gordon became a pivot point in their summer. Once the club stepped away from those fees, the window took on a different shape.

Instead of one blockbuster wide signing, Bayern spread their resources. Ismael Saibari and Nathaniel Brown arrived to freshen up Kompany’s options, while a sizeable group moved on to keep the books in order.

• Joao Palhinha
• Alexander Nubel
• Daniel Peretz
• Noel Aseko
• Jonah Kusi-Asare
• Maurice Krattenmacher
• Lovro Zvornarek

all left the Allianz Arena, underlining just how deep the reshuffle ran.

Bayern still want to play on the front foot under Kompany. They still want wingers who can rip games open. But this summer, the club drew a hard line at the very top of the market and watched others cross it.

Liverpool chose the opposite path. They paid the premium, took the risk, and handed Barcola the keys to a new era on the right.

Now comes the real judgment: will Bayern’s restraint look wise in a year’s time, or will Barcola’s rise on Merseyside turn those “too expensive” numbers into the going rate for elite wide talent?