The Bayern Munich manager views rising prices for players as a function of the market, with football commanding higher and higher prices from television rights holders.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — While transfer fees are rising, Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti views that as a product of teams having more money thanks to TV deals — and by extension of fans’ passion for the game.
Ancelotti said the phenomenon of players going for higher prices is simply keeping pace with the market, which is being fed by an audience ravenous for more and more top-level football.
“I think that not only football, the market is the market,” Ancelotti said. “Of course maybe the market has increased, but the market is someone has to sell, another one has to buy.
“This is how the market functions. Is it bigger than the past? Of course it’s bigger than the past, but also the investment the television right agreements around the world made in football are bigger. Football is really important, a really interesting industry and the market is like this. I don’t see anything special. I think that people love football and we always will love football.”
Earlier this week, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp complained about increasing transfer fees, saying, “If you bring one player in for £100 million and he gets injured, then it all goes through the chimney. The day that this is football I’m not in a job anymore, because the game is about playing together.”
While Ancelotti views it as a function of an increasing market, he also made sure to make the most of his team’s foray into that market, signing Renato Sanches and Mats Hummels before the summer international tournaments begin.
The Italian manager now says his Bayern squad is set. Ancelotti is hoping that his team can not only extend its run of four consecutive Bundesliga titles and add the Champions League, but he also said that the perception that the season is only a success if Bayern achieves European supremacy is a fallacy.
“I think every team wants to win the Champions League — Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona, everybody wants to win it. Only one team wins it,” the manager said. “I think the collective will be competitive until the end in all competitions. There’s not only one focus. We want to win the Champions League, but if we don’t we’ll be competitive until the end.”
Bayern continues its preseason Saturday with the second match of its United States tour, a contest against Inter. The tour closes with a match against Real Madrid on Wednesday.