According to reports, Bayern Munich’s recent controversy this season has been about Thomas Müller’s contract. The player expected his contract to be extended, but it was announced that the club was not interested in renewing his contract and the experienced player would leave the team after the Club World Cup. This incident led to criticism from the media and Bayern Munich veterans about the club’s management and their handling of the situation.

Uli Hoeneß said in an interview on Sunday night: “It would have been better if he had made the retirement decision himself, not Bayern Munich. I have seen many great players retire. In the end, problems arose with all of them because they didn’t want to accept that they weren’t as good as they wanted to be anymore. We made the mistake of giving Thomas too much hope that his contract might be extended. And when the club’s sporting management entered into talks with him, the decision had actually already been made not to extend his contract, and this caused unrest. Thomas was not prepared for this decision and naturally became angry. This decision was made with the agreement of the entire club. And there wasn’t even one person, not even one, among the committee members and the supervisory board who had a dissenting opinion. This decision was communicated poorly. We must take responsibility for this mistake.”

Hoeneß then added about last season’s trophy-less campaign: “Last year was a complete disaster. We became an average team. We finished the season in third place, which is really the worst thing that can happen to Bayern. Last year’s situation cannot be compared with this year. We must not take winning the league, which we hope to achieve this year, for granted.”

Hoeneß then spoke about the injuries this season that have caused a crisis: “I have been at Bayern for many years, but I have never seen such a wave of serious injuries. Currently, five or six of our key players will be out for months. No team can really cope with such a situation. That’s why it’s very important to have the right mindset, especially for Wednesday’s game.”

Finally, Uli Hoeneß was asked whether Bayern’s financial situation would allow the purchase of Florian Wirtz, the German star of Bayer Leverkusen, to which he replied: “Bayern is in excellent financial shape. Of course, it’s not like before when we had 100 or 150 million euros in our account. But that doesn’t mean Bayern is not an extraordinary club. If it wants to, it can certainly make a transfer of this magnitude. The reality is that Wirtz has a contract with Leverkusen for another two years, and there’s nothing more to say.”