Bundesliga

Bayern Munich against everyone else – this is the Bundesliga once again, just one day before the beginning of the new season. In May the Bavarians won the title with just 2 points advantage in front of Borussia Dortmund, so it was a fascinating season. Can Dortmund move this closer to the top again? Who knows, everything is possible. Let’s take a look.

Some believe that Niko Kovac was close to the sack during the previous season, but he led Bayern to the title and the DFB Pokal, so everything is fine now. It’s true that the Bavarians had some difficult moments during the campaign, but everything is well when it ends well.

On the market Bayern Munich made some important deals. The club signed two world champions with France from the last World Cup, both of them playing in defense. These are Lucas Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard, who were signed from Atletico Madrid and Stuttgart. Just few days ago Bayern signed a contract with Ivan Perisic as well, who was loaned from Inter. With a thought about the future, the talented striker Jann-Fiete Arp was signed from Hamburger.

Meanwhile Bayern Munich decided to part ways with Mats Hummels, who returned to his former club Borussia Dortmund. In the same time the experienced right back Rafinha left Allianz Arena in order to return to his home country Brazil. James Rodriguez returned to Real Madrid, while Bayern said goodbye to two huge legends – Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben.

During the summer Bayern were linked with a move for Manchester City’s Leroy Sane, but the winger got injured really bad during the Community Shield game against Liverpool. Now it’s not clear if a transfer like this could happen.

After getting so close to the title last season, now Borussia Dortmund will aim for the top again. Lucien Favre remained at the club as there was no real reason to replace him.

On the market Borussia Dortmund chose to bring Mats Hummels back to the club, while Eden Hazard’s brother – Thorgan arrived from Borussia M’gladbach. Hoffenheim’s Nico Schulz will strenghten the left flank of the defense, while the talented winger Julian Brandt was bought from Bayer Leverkusen. Just as it was expected, the Spanish striker Paco Alcacer was bought after his successful loan spell from Barcelona.

Meanwhile Dortmund sold the French centre back Abdou Diallo to the Ligue 1 champions PSG, while the striker Maximilian Philipp was sold to the Russian side Dinamo Moscow. Alexander Isak, Sebastian Rode, Andre Schurrle, Christian Pulisic and Shinji Kagawa also left the team.

RB Leipzig had a very successful last season, finishing third in the league and returning to the Champions League. On the market they paid 18 million euro for Everton’s Ademola Lookman, while PSG’s Christopher Nkunku and RB Salzburg’s Hannes Wolf were also signed. This season Leipzig will be managed by a new coach. This is Julian Nagelsmann, who arrives at the club from Hoffenheim. The fans said goodbye to the winger Bruma, who decided to move to PSV.

Bayer Leverkusen also qualified for the Champions League, finishing 4th last season. The club tried to strenghten the team, signing Hoffenheim’s midfielder Kerem Demirbay. Meanwhile the young French winger Moussa Diaby was signed from PSG, while Hoffenheim’s Nadiem Amiri and Ajax’s Daley Sinkgraven also joined. Sadly for the fans, one of Leverkusen’s stars Julian Brandt left the team and joined Borussia Dortmund. In the same time Dominik Kohr was sold to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Just 3 points separated Borussia M’gladbach from qualifying for the Champions League. This led to a managerial change as Marco Rose was appointed as the new head coach. On the market M’gladbach made strong moves, signing RB Salzburg’s Stefan Lainer, Schalke’s Breel Embolo and Guingamp’s young prospect Marcus Thuram. But in same time the club said goodbye to the Belgian star Thorgan Hazard, who completed his move to Borussia Dortmund.

Wolfsburg also start the new campaign with a new head coach. This is the Austrian tactician Oliver Glasner, who arrives at the club after few successful seasons in LASK. He quickly signed his countryman Xaver Schlager from RB Salzburg, while the Swiss right back Kevin Mbabu was bought from Young Boys. A curious deal is the one for the 20-years old striker Lukas Nmecha, who was loaned from the Premier League champion Manchester City.

How will Eintracht Frankfurt deal with the sales of their two main strikers? Luka Jovic and Sebastien Haller left the club, which leads to one important question – can Eintracht really replace them? The club decided to invest in the 19-years old Serbian striker Dejan Joveljic, who was signed from Crvena Zvezda. Meanwhile Eric Durm returned to the Bundesliga and signed with Eintracht, while Augsburg’s Martin Hinteregger, Young Boys’ Djibril Sow, Leverkusen’s Dominik Kohr and PSG’s Kevin Trapp also moved to the Commerzbank Arena.

Werder Bremen finished 8th in the Bundesliga last season, so now they will try to progress at least a little bit. On the market the club signed Hannover 96’s striker Niclas Fullkrug, while the young Austrian defender Marco Friedl was bought from Bayern Munich. Benjamin Goller arrived as a free agent from Schalke, while the Turkish centre back Omer Toprak was loaned from Borussia Dortmund. In the same time Max Kruse left the team and joined Fenerbahce, while Thanos Petsos and Aron Johansson also departed with Werder.

This is what happened with the best Bundesliga clubs during the summer. Of course, the market is still open, so more deals could happen in the next 15 days. There’s enough times to see more players being bought and more players being sold.

Far from surprising, most of the pundits predict another title for Bayern Munich. It seems that Niko Kovac started to get things right at the Allianz Arena, which is bad news for the other teams in Germany. We can hope that Borussia Dortmund will make the Bundesliga more interesting again, especially given the fact that they made some strong moves on the market. But they are going to need a lot of luck as well in order to beat Bayern.