Karl-Heinz Rummenigge disappointed Florian Wirtz chose Liverpool over Bayern Munich
For the better part of the past six to seven months, Bayern seemed like the natural, logical next step for Wirtz and the player himself indicated interest in making that leap. Former Bayern president Uli Hoeneß had been in routine contact with the player's family to try to seal the deal and explain the plan that the club had for the 22-year old, but in the end, he decided to go to Liverpool. It's been heavily suggested that conversations with manager Arne Slot had a lot to do with Wirtz choosing Liverpool over Bayern, especially knowing that he'll be solidified in the number 10 role there.
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Former Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge expressed the sentiment shared by most Bayern fans when he recently expressed his disappointment with the German Rekordmeister having missed out on such a generational talent.
'Generally speaking, I think it's a pity. We've always had the philosophy that the best German players should play for FC Bayern. We gave it our all; in this case, no one made a mistake. It's Florian's decision – and we have to accept it,' Rummenigge explained in a recent interview with Welt Am Sonntag (via @iMiaSanMia).
Meeting – 49th UEFA Ordinary Congress
When both Rummenigge and Hoeneß were both still in office at Bayern, they had often dreamed about Hoeneß's desire for 'FC Deutschland,' in wanting to have all of the best German players playing for Bayern. The heavy contingent of Bayern players always being picked for the German national team were often reflective of that dream being, for all intents and purposes, somewhat of a reality, though it has started to trend in the opposite direction in recent years.
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Nonetheless, Bayern is continuously competing with the undertones of top talents choosing the Premier League over the Bundesliga with the allure that the English top flight has. Harry Kane's move to Munich from Tottenham had hallmarks of helping reduce that polarity, but the economic state of disparity between the Premier League and the German top flight is always growing larger.
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