The Bayern director says they will not discuss the coach’s contract until later in the year and has not ruled out a late move in the transfer market
Pep Guardiola’s future is of secondary importance to Bayern Munich’s return to action, according to Matthias Sammer.
Reports emerged at the weekend suggesting the Spanish coach could walk away from the club in the summer after failing to agree terms on an extension to his contract, which expires next year.
Despite the rumours surrounding his future, Sammer is adamant that Guardiola and the club as a whole are too focused on their return to Bundesliga action on Friday.
“We play against Wolfsburg tomorrow. All personal things are second-rate at the moment,” he told a press conference. “Pep and we only want to talk about football, nothing else. These things don’t have to be clarified now in order to make a good job of the second part of the season.”
Bayern were dealt a blow this week with Franck Ribery ruled out for two weeks with a thigh problem, but Sammer is confident they will cope in his absence.
“At first I thought it would be worse,” the club’s sporting director said of the injury. “But when I got the diagnosis this morning, I was relieved.
“We proved in the past that we can play three games without Franck. He is a fantastic player, but if Bayern are not able to win three games without him, we would have a problem in principle.”
Sammer also suggested Bayern could be tempted into a late foray into the transfer market should any more injuries strike over the next few days.
“There will be no activity [in the market]. However, you cannot exclude anything. What if we experience other injured players against Wolfsburg tomorrow?” he said.
“At the moment we have 16 players at a top level. In addition, there are three young talents [Mitchell Weiser, Gianluca Gaudino and Sinan Kurt]. And that’s it – that’s the ‘huge, huge’ squad everyone is talking about. If two players are out, only 14 are left.
“But, in principle, no transfers are planned at all.”
Finally, Sammer lavished praise on defender Jerome Boateng, describing him as one of the finest in his positions in the world.
“You cannot have a better physical structure than him,” he added. “He is fast, tall and persistent. What’s more, he is tactically and technically on the best level possible, so he is one of the best central defenders in the world.”