Bayern President Backs Dortmund For Its Handling of Ousmane Dembele Saga
Borussia Dortmund have received praise from an unlikely source in Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness.
The 65-year-old backed Dortmund as a 'great club' for their handling of wantaway star Ousmane Dembélé amid interest from Barcelona and drew comparisons with former Munich star Douglas Costa.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Hoeness spoke about the way his Bundesliga rivals, as 20-year-old Dembele was reported to have boycotted Dortmund training amidst interest from Barcelona.
"First of all, I must say that Borussia Dortmund has thus far acted very shrewdly and approached the matter very calmly. As a great club, and Dortmund is that now, you sometimes have to show strength. We would have handled it the same way," Hoeness said.
"The player is also at fault. If the player doesn’t go to practice, then he has to answer for that alone and cannot hide behind his agent. At some point, the spectators won’t play along anymore. You cannot treat the players like gods if they don’t behave like gods.
Hoeness also touched on the departure of Brazilian winger Costa, who left the Allianz Arena this summer to join Italian champions Juventus.
"There are players who start to think about where they might earn more money two days after they sign their contracts. It’s the responsibility of the club to sign players of character. We had a similar case with Costa," he added.
"He acted exactly like Dembélé. After the shortest amount of time, although his performances were not that good, he wanted to have more money. We let him go on Bayern Munich’s terms."
Bayern will host Bayer Leverkusen on the opening game of the Bundesliga this Friday. Having secured passage to the second round of the DFB Cup thanks to a 5-0 victory over 3. Liga side Chemnitzer FC, the Bavarians will be desperate to secure a sixth straight Bundesliga title this season.
