He is possibly FC Bayern’s biggest failure in recent years: Kenan Yildiz is on the verge of becoming a world star.
Munich – The Bayern Campus: the great vision of the FC Bayernthe Bavarian answer to the transfer madness. The record champions want to secure their sporting and financial future with specially forged talent. Kenan Yildiz was actually the model example of how things should work – but today he serves as a negative example of how things should definitely not work.
How could this happen? A look back: The son of a Turkish father and a German mother, born in Regensburg, came to FC Bayern as a seven-year-old child and went through all the youth teams, often as captain. He is considered a huge talent and the path to the professionals seems to be clear. But in 2022 there will be a break.
FC Bayern justifies Yildiz’s departure with salary demands that are too high
Yildiz is 16 years old, has just joined Bayern’s U19 team and has five points in eight games. The logical step for a club: to bind this great talent to the club and to show prospects. But somehow that doesn’t work for Bayern and Yildiz.
In the summer of 2022, FC Bayern will let Yildiz move to Juventus Turin for a free transfer. By the way, he is not an isolated case – a Bundesliga team could be put together from the Bayern talents given away. The Munich squad bosses responsible at the time, Hasan Salihamidzic and Marco Neppe, are trying to ensure that the German-Turk stays, but a new contract fails because of the money.
Kenan Yildiz is making a big impact at Juventus Turin
“He is a young, talented player who we would have liked to continue to support on his path. However, we could not and did not want to meet his financial demands. “That’s why Yildiz will unfortunately be leaving us,” Salihamidzic told the newspaper at the time Bild. A departure that would prove expensive.
Yildiz quickly gained a foothold in Italy and played his way up to the professionals. Today he is a Juventus regular and Turkish international. At the age of 19, he has already made 54 appearances for the Bianconeri and his market value is 40 million euros (Quelle: transfermarkt.de).
Yildiz’s goal against Germany particularly hurts
Both the DFB and FC Bayern missed the chance to convince the youngster of their projects. It became particularly painful when Yildiz scored for Turkey in a 3-2 win over Germany at the end of 2023 and frenetically celebrated his goal. At the European Championships, Turkey’s sports director thanked FC Bayern.
Bayern’s former head of the youth department, Holger Seitz, defended Yildiz’s departure: “We had to let him go because he, together with his family and his consulting agency, decided on a different path. “That hurt because he was trained with us for a long time,” he said ran.
Yildiz advisor deals heavily against FC Bayern
Yildiz himself found it “strange to leave FC Bayern after such a long time. I thought about this step for a long time. Juventus presented me with the best sporting plan,” he said at the Bild. The winger’s agent did not spare FC Bayern with strong accusations.
“There were unpleasant moments during Kenan’s stay at Bayern. There were people who, for whatever reason, didn’t want to promote him properly,” Hector Peris accused those responsible at the club. Yildiz “went through difficult times and all of that led to some people leaving the club afterwards,” the agent continued, without being specific.
How much blame FC Bayern can actually bear in the Yildiz case remains the subject of discussion. What is undisputed is that anyone who sticks with Bayern and watches the attacker play football today will feel at least mild to moderate pain. (epp)
