News: FC Bayern, European Championship semi-finals, Granit Xhaka

If you were to ask Vincent Kompany today who he would pick for his starting eleven at the start of the Bundesliga season, the team he would pick would likely be one with an average age that isn't all that different from his own traditional team. Last season, Munich fielded the oldest starting eleven in the entire league, with 30.5 years (against Gladbach on Matchday 33). The senior squad hasn't been rejuvenated yet. Quite the opposite, in fact. While Liverpool and Barcelona are showing how to drive a generational change, FC Bayern, six weeks before the transfer deadline, finds itself with an aging squad and no clear plan for the future. They continue to scout players approaching 30 (see Luís Diaz). Players from the renowned Bayern campus (like Aznou and Karl, and previously Wanner and Krätzig) are barely given a chance. Even newly acquired talents like Tel, Zaragoza, or Gravenberch were sold off faster than they could learn the term "prospective player." Munich has been planning for the short term for years. What reason does a young player even have to sign with FC Bayern? Florian Wirtz has clearly answered this question for himself.