Shooting star Schlaudraff opts for Bayern

FCBayernNews · News fetcher Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 1361 votes: 2

03.01.2007

Scoring against Bayern appears to be the best possible way of earning a transfer to Germany's most successful club. Roy Makaay showed the way four years ago with a hat-trick for Deportivo La Coruna at the Munich Olympic stadium, and now Alemannia Aachen shooting star Jan Schlaudraff has followed suit.

The 23-year-old, who netted a fine fourth for his current club to extinguish Bayern's lingering hopes of remaining in the German Cup back in December, is to join the Bavarian giants on 1 July 2007. The Germany goal-getter has agreed terms with the reigning Bundesliga champions and will sign a three-year deal binding him to the club until 30 June 2010 as soon as the official winter transfer list is published. The transfer fee for the striker, who can also operate in attacking midfield, is the €1 million stipulated in his current contract.

A momentous step

"We're delighted Jan has chosen in our favour," commented Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. "He's one of the most promising young German players around. Bayern Munich offers him an outstanding sporting opportunity."

"I believe this is the right decision for me personally from a sporting point of view," Schlaudraff observed. The swift and technically able player was also a target for Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund. "Obviously this is a big step for me to take, but I see the chance for me to develop my game in Munich and play on the international stage."

Relegation battle beckons

Officials in Aachen welcomed Schlaudraff's early decision on his future. "It's good to have everything clarified. We believe this won't affect Jan's form in the second half of the season. The opposite in fact: we think it will give him a boost," commented Alemannia Director of Sport Jörg Schmadtke. "We're happy we've been able to help him on his way for a while."

"My time at Alemannia has definitely been crucial to my career," Schlaudraff remarked, "and I'm still here. I'm looking forward to the next six months and will do everything I can to ensure I go to Munich with Aachen still in the Bundesliga." The promoted club from the cathedral city on the Dutch border currently lie 13th in the standings, four points clear of the drop zone.

Slippery Schlaudraff

The striker first made a name for himself with eleven goals in Alemannia's successful promotion push last term. The 23-year-old, nicknamed "Boney" for his slight 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) frame and relatively light 69 kg (152 lb) body weight, has since amassed 14 scorer points (8 goals, 6 assists) in 18 top flight and German Cup appearances this term.

"He's like a weasel. You just can't get hold of him," current coach Michael Frontzeck remarked. The player himself credits his speed and ball control skills to playing as a boy with his older brothers and friends on a field near the family home: "I didn't always want to be the last one picked, so I practiced a lot."

MUTU

This is great news for Bayern. A possible future star purchased for a relatively very cheap price!

Perhaps this means that the club intends on offloading one or more of the strikers on the payroll. Santa Cruz has already expressed his desire to move on because of the lack of appearances, whereas Claudio Pizarro's huge contract demands means that Bayern may be unwilling to extend his contract which runs out at the end of the season.

SNAKE

The Bayern board must be crazy not to bring Schlaudraff in now when we need him to play in the Champions League, What the hell are Rumenigge and Hoeness thinking??? Still its a great signing maybe the next one will be Ribery????? Laughing

Lets hope

SNAKE

MUTU

If they were to bring him in now, they wouldn't meet the transfer clause of 1 million euros, hence they would have needed to strike a deal with Alemannia Aachen and if we don't offload any strikers this winter, he would have been surplus to requirements.

Paddy · I'm a chatterbox! Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 746 votes: 7

Reffering to the prevoius thread I don´t see why everybody are expecting Huntelaar to join Bayern. Face it, Bayern can´t compete with big clubs from England, Italy and Spain. And it´s not Bayern´s fault. Great players want to play in bigger leagues than Bundesliga.

If let´s say Real, Barca, Juve, Arsenal, Chelsea and Bayern and teams like that come knocking in for Huntelaar who do you think he´d choose?

FC Bajern

Paddy · I'm a chatterbox! Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 746 votes: 7

fa · Moderator Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 306 votes: 3

Reports in Germany say that Bayern tries to bring in Schlaudraff already this transferperiod, due to the sudden retirement of Deisler. Aachen on the other hand are not willing to agree on this, mainly because they need Schlaudraff if they want to stay in the bundesliga..

Bayern also expressed their desire to keep Pizarro, but stated that it would be dificult because of the financial matter. Karimi will most likely stay at least untill summer, probably because he ll now get more chances due to the retirement of Deisler.