Florian Wirtz fee bemoaned as Bayern Munich chief says Newcastle ‘play Monopoly’

Bayern Munich‘s honorary president has claimed Newcastle treat football “like Monopoly,” while bemoaning the price for which Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool.

In signing for Liverpool, Wirtz turned down Man City and Bayern Munich, somewhat bucking the trend for German players who tend to join their native country’s biggest club.

The Reds are understood to have paid £116 million for their new No. 7, though this was reported as closer to £130m by outlets in Germany.

Uli Hoeness, honorary president of Bayern Munich who is on the supervisory board, has now claimed they would never have been able to pay that much, but Bayern are still “very satisfied.”

He said on SPORT1 (h/t @iMiaSanMia on X): “We are the real winners of the summer transfer window. We have a strong team and didn’t need to strengthen it much.

“Of course, we would have liked to have Florian Wirtz, but we’d never have bought him for €150m (£130m).”

The Bayern chief then went on to bemoan Newcastle‘s spending, saying: “We offered €55 million (£47m) for Nick Woltemade, while Stuttgart wanted €75 million (£65m).

“In the end, he went to Newcastle for €90m (£69m).

“What Newcastle are doing has nothing to do with football. It’s like Monopoly these days.”

What Hoeness is referring to is Newcastle‘s extraordinary pot of wealth available to them through their owners, the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

While profit and sustainability rules have limited their spending to some extent, the Magpies were still willing to spend extraordinary sums on players whom most deem to be worth far less than what Newcastle offer.

Take 25-year-old Jorgen Strand Larsen, for example. Newcastle had a bid rejected of £55m for the Wolves striker who has scored just 16 goals in English football so far.

Though Bayern were unable to buy their first-choice targets, they still signed Luis Diaz for £65.5m and took Nicolas Jackson on loan for an initial £13.5m, with an obligation to buy him should he start 40 games, Hoeness revealed.

The merits of financial fair play are for debating another day, but it is fair to say Bayern are a beneficiary of them, and clubs with ‘new money’ like Newcastle could threaten their status.