The Bavarians have a history of recruiting the top talent from within the Bundesliga and the BayArena side’s sporting director claims his current team merit such attention
Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voller claims he is happy to be afraid of losing players to Bayern Munich as it proves the quality within Sami Hyypia’s squad.
Bayern have been relentless in their pursuit of the top talent in the Bundesliga in recent seasons, with Manuel Neuer and Mario Gotze the latest to swap their respective clubs for the Bavarian giants while the likes of Jorginho, Lucio, Michael Ballack, Ze Roberto and Robert Kovac have all previously joined the club from Leverkusen.
Pep Guardiola’s side currently sit just a point above Hyypia’s men following the 1-1 draw between the teams on October 5, and Voller admits he would be pleased to see the champions linked with some BayArena stars as it would be further proof of the talent within the side.
“It is now more extreme than in the past. If Bayern want a player, they will get them. When top clubs are interested in your players, of course you have to worry,” he told Sport Bild.
“If I had no concerns over losing players to Bayern or others, that would mean we have not got any clever players. Then I could really stomach the pain. I would like to continue having this fear of Bayern for a long time.”
Two players linked with exits from Leverkusen of late are Sidney Sam and Stefan Reinartz, both of whom see their contracts expire at the end of next season.