Omar Richards was very optimistic at the time, it is said that he even spoke Bavarian. “I can’t wait to be on the pitch for FC Bayern. Mia san mia!” The Brit was quoted as saying on the occasion of his commitment in the summer of 2021, according to a statement from the German record champions. Hasan Salihamidzic, the sporting director responsible for the transfer, was a little more reserved in the same statement. Richards is a “technically fine player for the left defensive”. And: “We trust him to play a good role for our team.” Playing a good role sounds like a prediction that applies to many scenarios.
About a year later, Richards’ stats include 17 competitive games, six from the start and one assist. Richards, 24, was also considered a popular professional, especially among the young players in the squad. On Sunday he was again the protagonist of a message: He is moving to the English first division club Nottingham Forest.
One can now classify Richards in the long list of players who could not assert themselves at Bayern. This list includes names such as Tobias Rau and Jan Schlaudraff, and more recently the names Fiete Arp and Michaël Cuisance. Another interpretation of the transfer is also possible: Richards came “free of charge” from English second division club Reading in 2021, as the club expressly pointed out on Sunday. The first division promoted Nottingham is now allegedly paying up to ten million euros.
Mistake or investment? The transfer balance is not entirely unimportant for the assessment of the manager Salihamidzic
This eventful summer at FC Bayern is a summer of big transfers: Sadio Mané trained in Munich for the first time on Friday, negotiations with Juventus Turin about central defender Matthijs de Ligt are ongoing, and Robert Lewandowski wants to continue to FC Barcelona, whose president Joan Laporta has now publicly announced claimed to have made an offer for the world footballer to FC Bayern. The striker is expected back in training on Tuesday; Officially, the people of Munich are still demanding that the contract be fulfilled by 2023 – to be continued.
Right from the start, the transfer period in Munich also had a few supporting actors worth mentioning: said striker named Arp, 22, switched to second division club Holstein Kiel without ever having played a Bundesliga game in Munich. And substitute midfielder Marc Roca joined Leeds United.
While FC Bayern did not receive a fee for Arp, but loudly picture-Zeitung had to pay a salary-based severance payment in the millions, Roca’s transfer was commonly interpreted as an economic success: He allegedly came from Espanyol Barcelona for nine million euros in 2020 and went to England for allegedly twelve million euros.
All of this is not entirely unimportant for the assessment of the work of the manager Salihamidzic, whose balance sheet in almost five years as the top buyer and seller includes all possible title wins in club football, but also some controversial commitments. Roca, 25, was never able to fulfill the hopes placed in him. Maybe he didn’t get the opportunity too often, at least he was only ten times in the starting XI. Now, measured by the transfer payments, it is not considered a loss-making business.
There is at least one player from this category in the Bayern squad: Roca brought right-back Bouna Sarr, 30, who has only started ten times since then. The transfer, which is said to have cost eight million euros, looked more like a spontaneous emergency purchase. Bayern noticed him in a friendly against Olympique Marseille.
At the latest after the signing of right-back Noussair Mazraoui from Ajax Amsterdam this summer, there is probably no more room for the supplementary player Sarr. However, his contract runs until 2024.
However, Sarr, winner of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal’s national team, already has his place in the history of this transfer summer. Sadio Mané mentioned him when he was introduced: “I spoke to Bouna at the national team. He was very happy that I came.”