Youth-Transfer Restrictions Would Benefit Bayern Munich and German Football

Borussia Monchengladbach sporting director Max Eberl hit out at Bayern Munich's policy of signing teenage talents on Thursday, causing a bit of a stir in the German and international press. Speaking to Rheinische Post (h/t Goal), the director criticized the Bavarians for bringing players to the Allianz Arena before they are ready to compete at the highest level:

"I'm not sure whether it actually benefits German football when you sign up promising youngsters before they are ready," he said, alluding to Bayern's move for 18-year-old Gladbach forward Sinan Kurt over the summer and their recently confirmed acquisition of 19-year-old RB Leipzig midfielder Joshua Kimmich. "Young players could also make a name for themselves elsewhere before making the move to Bayern."

These are the most incendiary lines from Eberl that have been circulated in the international press, but in his original interview he rather cynically posited that although Bayern have been successful in bringing players like Thomas Muller and David Alaba through their youth ranks, the club's relative lack of success in youth Bundesligen and with their reserves has resulted in their attempt to buy players to bolster their performance at sub-professional levels.

He later appealed to populism, asserting that if Bayern were not to buy young players, "other clubs would also benefit from it, with bigger transfer fees finding their way to the clubs behind Bayern."

Although Bayern to an extent owe the Bundesliga for producing many of their players and providing the impetus to compete, the case can easily be made that the German giants are not obligated to pay any amount more than the best they can negotiate for the players they sign. If they operate within the rules of the game, their business is just.

However, Eberl does have a point that keeping players at their respective hometown clubs could be beneficial to German football overall. And the case can be made that a rule to minimize intra-German league transfers of young players could benefit Bayern, too.

There's no doubt that Bayern's policy of signing young players, testing them with the first team and either sending them on loan or selling with a buy-back option has generally served the club well.

In recent years, Toni Kroos and David Alaba spent spells at Leverkusen and Hoffenheim, respectively, before returning to Munich improved and more mature players. Pierre Hojbjerg could follow in their footsteps, recently extending his contract in Munich while at the same time accepting a six-month loan to Augsburg.

Loans such as Hojbjerg's benefit the loaning club (by giving them a very useful and promising player) and the player (by giving him the chance to develop with first-team football), but Bayern above all benefit. If the player turns out to be a superstar, they've managed to acquire a world-class player for little monetary investment while not having to suffer the setbacks of him struggling and stumbling on his path to success.

However, Bayern's model may not be the ideal for promoting German talent or the club's interests. There are many cases in which a young player at Bayern had little realistic hope of earning much playing time above the reserve (fourth division) level and either stagnated or took a step back in their development.

Emre Can and Mitchell Weiser are prime examples, the former having stated, per German tabloid Bild, that it was hard to motivate himself to play in front of a handful of fans in the reserves.

Some may claim that if a young player is unable to impress after being signed by a bigger club, he never had the talent to be a star. This logic is faulty because development of footballing ability and cognitive maturation are not entirely correlative: Essentially, a player may show all the talent in the world at his hometown club, but as a 17- or 18-year-old not yet have the mental maturity to succeed when taken out of his native environment.

It's a strain to adapt to a different city, club and even culture, especially if that comes with expectations and distractions like media attention and an enormous salary.

In his interview, Eberl said talented youngsters should consider the value of their environment and not necessarily heed the call of big clubs, at least not until they're ready. Ultimately it is the decision of the player to accept an offer, but there can be a conflict of interest for their advisers (agents may receive bonuses based on transfers) and as minors, they may not fully understand the gravity of their decisions.

FIFA understands the danger that can come with young footballers moving long distances to join big clubs, and their regulation of such practices is at the heart of their recent sanctions against Barcelona that included a 12-month transfer ban. The question now is just how great a distance or how big a step up can be tolerated before it risks harming a young player's development.

The situation in Germany is different from Europe in general, with all 1. and 2. Bundesliga academies held to strict standards adopted by the DFL (German Football League). While a young player from, for example, a modest Polish Ekstraklasa side may benefit greatly from moving to a club with a better academy even if it's abroad, the same cannot be said of intra-Germany moves.

All professional clubs in Germany are held to high standards of youth football, and young players are given the opportunity to prove themselves at the professional level especially at lower and mid-table clubs.

Bayern pursue players like Kimmich and Kurt in order to reel in talents before they become expensive stars, it's a money-saving practice. And it often works. But in other cases, it fails. Spending even half a season in the reserves or youth teams when they could be playing 2. or even 1. Bundesliga football is a waste, and being shuffled from a hometown club to Munich and possibly to a third club on loan can unsettle a talented but still immature player.

Obviously, Bayern feel the risk of wasting talents is outweighed by the money they save. But the DFL ought not to be concerned with Bayern's profits, only the best promotion of young players.

In the past, the governing body has imposed stern regulations on German teams, such as academy mandates, restrictions on foreign owners and financial requirements. Forbidding Bundesliga clubs from buying and selling players from other 1. or even 2. Bundesliga sides could be the DFL's next step toward protecting German talents.

Protecting German talents is in Bayern's interest, even if it may result in higher transfer fees being paid. Boasting the third-highest revenue in Europe and not a penny of stadium debt, Bayern's spending power is massive to the point that transfer spending is almost trivial, especially when they already have a near-monopoly on Bundesliga transfers: A glance at the cover of the 2010 DFL publication "10 Years of Academies" is clear evidence that the best German talents always find their way to Munich.

If it means paying a little more for a player who was allowed to play at a smaller club for a little longer and who was much more developed by the time he moved to Munich, that's a good thing for Bayern.

It should be noted that it's not only Bayern who sign teenagers from German clubs. A ban would also affect clubs like Dortmund, who paid €2.7 million to sign Leonardo Bittencourt from Energie Cottbus in 2012 and €1.5 million to acquire Marian Sarr from Leverkusen a year later.

Although a policy of rounding up young German talents led to BVB winning the Bundesliga in two consecutive seasons, their recent acquisitions have proven that success to be an exception to the rule.

In theory and generally in practice, young German players do best when kept close to home. And when they're finally mature enough for the big stage (see: Manuel Neuer, Mario Gotze and Marco Reus), they can make the jump. Any sooner and there's an unnecessary risk involved, that the player either won't reach his full potential or won't make it at all as a professional.

The DFL has in the past made some tough decisions that Bundesliga clubs have not universally supported at the time, but would eventually help each team. But these regulations have made the league better in many ways and, above all, promoted German talent.

Right now, it's possible for the league's bigger clubs to snap up players at a low price but before they're ready. The German league governing body would be wise to consider adopting new rules as an extension of FIFA regulations, to ensure only the very best for domestic talent. The big clubs wouldn't be worse off, either.

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