Thank goodness for that.
Xabi Alonso | Bayern Munich player
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
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Did anyone really think he would come here? He's Liverpool through and through.
He was never going to move. Atleast it might stop Madrid from getting another top CM this summer, unlikely though
Off to Bayern apparently, agreed terms with them & now they're negotiating with Real.
Come home Xabi! 
Weird move for Bayern and Alonso.
Come home Xabi!
He's not good enough. (Not for Bayern either, before the inevitable "if he's good enough for Bayern..." reply comes).
We should have been in for him. Well now we know why Khediera stayed
Think he's the type that wouldn't join us due to his Liverpool history. Fair enough really.
Makes a lot of sense for both I would think. Modric and Kroos first choice at Real with plenty of other backup. Bayern have midfield injuries so a high class senior player makes perfect sense for them.
You never know
I will cry if Real get Vidal.
Especially one that is experienced but not so young. We have young ones to come in who will be high class but just need time. He can share time with Schweinsteiger - and Lahm can go back to right back.
Argh I worried now
Wonder if Illarramendi will get a look in now. Previously heard he was going to loan. We would be silly not looking at him ourselves, especially if we could get him on loan.
I wish we could sign him.
There were rumours that Alonso was ready to move. It never occurred to me that it would be to Bayern. I guess that explains why things went quiet on Khedira then.
He first send Pepe Reina to check the guys - and after he told him that the mirror was less crowded in Munich...
Well,if Bayern don't want him and if we're not getting Vidal, we should give it a go. Even with Alonso (possibly) leaving, wouldn't Khedira still spend most of his time on the bench? I'm guessing Kroos and Modric will start usually, while Illaramendi would compete with him for the Alonso role?
Haha! He will be your best looking player for sure and will appreciate the mirror.He first send Pepe Reina to check the guys - and after he told him that the mirror was less crowded in Munich...
Didn't expect that, so Xabi Alonso now playing under Pep Guardiola! Sounds almost as strange as Fabregas playing under Mourinho! Well, almost everything is indeed possible in football.
Weird move. Extremely weird move. Can't in my wildest imaginations see him improving Bayern, or fitting in their system either. Does he want Alonso to replicate Pep's own role in the dream team or something?
No. You have to see that Schweinsteiger has injury problems - and Thiago, too. We have two real young ones with 17 and 18 - the first still lacks body weight and stature - who look really promising but will need time. There is no real doubt that they will be big somewhen. So another player in the midfield - especially one that will not take the future away from the young lads - will be great.
In my view Xabi Alonso is a very good temporary solution for Bayern's issues in central midfield, without disregarding the future of our extraordinary central midfield talents Pierre-Emil Höjbjerg (19) and Gianluca Gaudino (17), who are both not quite ready to carry the responsibility of covering central midfield in the Uefa Champions League elimination rounds.
Instead of placing an insurmountable object in their way like Khedira or Verrati, who would both effectively block any chance of breaking into Bayern's first team, Bayern decided to go for Alonso. A player who will carry the burden of responsibility on the biggest stage alongside the likes of Schweinsteiger, while the young guard can steadily improve their skills.
With his tweet to Di Maria it's obvious he still has feeling for Liverpool and out of respect probably wont have come here anyway not that I would really want him to at this stage in his career.
There is no doubt you have injury problems. But Xabi Alonso just isn't the quality you need and his best attributes are his long range of passing - the contrary to the passing style you are currently using.
Quite so. He's not a "high profile" transfer in that he's not expected to carry the team for years to come in a certain position. IF he stays for two years, he can become a valuable back-up or alternative player, lighten the load for Schweinsteiger, Martinez and Thiago (who won't have to rush their recovery now) and allow Pep to play Lahm where he belongs more often. On top of that, it's hard to find a more suited teacher for PEH and GG on top of those they already have.
I just assume and hope Pep knows what he's doing
http://www.bernabeudigital.com/prim...rdo-total-entre-xabi-alonso-y-el-bayern-15347
Joined Bayern. Weird.
Joined Bayern. Weird.
Hmm...I watched him at the world cup and a bit for Real last season and I thought that he's on the wane.
Probably a nice stop gap signing though for Bayern until Thiago and Martinez return to fitness.
Probably a nice stop gap signing though for Bayern until Thiago and Martinez return to fitness.
So I wonder if this means Lahm back to playing in defense and Alonso at the base of the diamond in midfield.
He was very good for Real Madrid last season.
Yes he was shite in the WC but so was Costa/Silva/Ramos/Pique… basically the whole Spanish team.
Wasn't really that good last season. Decent, and important for how Real Madrid set up, but way more inconsistent than he'd previously been and struggled to deal with any player who took him on one vs one. He was always a slow player but now he's even struggling to make tackles he'd have easily made before. Had some really good games but also some really terrible ones where he was lucky to stay on the pitch.
Is it confirmed? Will be interesting to see what Pep does with him.
Eh really doesn't make sense for Real to ditch Di Maria and Alonso from their brilliant well-balanced midfield trio. I know Alonso is ageing and Illaramendi is waiting in the wings but they are involved in plenty of competitions and will probably have 50-60 games this season. Who better than Alonso to mentor Illaramendi and to ease him into the first team. Perhaps he wants to be a first team regular and maybe he wasn't assured of it.
I also think his defensive contribution is being overlooked by some here, he is not just a good passer but is really good at shielding the defence with his intelligent reading and positioning without necessarily being a midfield terrier. Also find it befuddling how Liverpool aren't going for him, they could do with a player like him although it will be a short-term yet brilliant fix. They have Can who is unproven, Lucas who is out of sorts and Allen who is decent. Alonso would be perfect in a midfield trio of Gerrard, Henderson and himself. He will relieve Gerrard of some of his defensive duties and free up Henderson to express himself better as a box to box midfielder. He still loves Pool and has claimed he might want to return there someday didn't he? They should have gone for him.
I also think his defensive contribution is being overlooked by some here, he is not just a good passer but is really good at shielding the defence with his intelligent reading and positioning without necessarily being a midfield terrier. Also find it befuddling how Liverpool aren't going for him, they could do with a player like him although it will be a short-term yet brilliant fix. They have Can who is unproven, Lucas who is out of sorts and Allen who is decent. Alonso would be perfect in a midfield trio of Gerrard, Henderson and himself. He will relieve Gerrard of some of his defensive duties and free up Henderson to express himself better as a box to box midfielder. He still loves Pool and has claimed he might want to return there someday didn't he? They should have gone for him.
I thought he was easily the best midfielder, arguably the best player, on the pitch in both CL games against Bayern last season and surprisingly had a huge impact on the team when he returned after his injury.
I agree that he's probably a stop gap because of our constant injury problems in CM. I don't mind him in the team, but paying a transfer fee of 10m for a 32 year old midfielder seems a bit strange for us, if that's true.
Anything's better than playing transfermoney taxes. This is Bayern after all.
Wasn't it Hoeness's personal finances and not Bayern's business which was related to the tax fraud. I think Bayern are an excellently run club but just find their crass pursuit of Reus and their shenanigans with Dortmund a bit unnecessary.
What Piratesoup is probably referring to is not the tax evasion scandal of Uli Hoeneß, but the German profit tax. Bayern München has sold Mario Mandzukic and Toni Kroos to Madrid for € 52M and also received some money for the transfers of Emre Can to Liverpool and Diego Contento to Girondins Bordeaux, while having spent less on the transfer market. This could potentially mean that the club would end up with a sizeable profit on their balance sheet. Sounds good at first glance, but every profit a company makes in Germany, is liable to profit tax. So our club officials prefer to invest into legs instead of making huge profits and indeed, throught the years Bayern München officials have been experts at always showing a profit small enough not to be taxed extensively and therefore built a reputation of looking after their money.
Anything else doesn't really make a lot of sense, because as you point out, the scandal of Uli Hoeneß had nothing to do with the bank accounts of Bayern München.
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