Johan Manzambi was a serious transfer target for FC Bayern last summer. The Munich club decided against signing him—and now the Swiss player is virtually impossible to reach.
FC Bayern apparently could have signed Johan Manzambi last summer. According to information from Sky, the Munich club was actively considering the Swiss national team player but ultimately made a conscious decision against a transfer. A few months later, the situation has changed fundamentally.
“Well, he’s a player they were looking at last summer. They could have signed him then. But it didn’t happen. They decided against making the move,” explained Sky reporter Florian Plettenberg.
The decision at the time was apparently driven primarily by the belief that they already had sufficient quality and development potential in central midfield within their own squad. Bayern relied on their existing options and therefore chose not to pursue Manzambi in earnest.
Instead, the 21-year-old moved from SC Freiburg to Aston Villa. The Premier League club invested around 70 million euros, including potential bonus payments, in the Swiss player, who has made a name for himself in England in no time at all. In his first six competitive matches for Villa, Manzambi has already tallied six points.
As a result, his market value has also changed. Plettenberg makes it clear that a later move by Bayern now seems highly unlikely: “He’s simply no longer financially feasible for Bayern. That transfer is just completely unrealistic at the moment.”
Bayern Rumors Surrounding Manzambi
Most recently, Manzambi had once again been linked to FC Bayern. According to reports, the Munich club is monitoring his development at Aston Villa.
The Swiss player has been on Säbener Straße’s radar even before his strong start in England. Bayern had the opportunity to pursue him more aggressively even before his move to Birmingham but decided against it.
For Manzambi himself, the move to the Premier League has so far proven to be a home run. The versatile midfielder, who was already one of the Bundesliga’s most promising talents during his time at SC Freiburg, has immediately taken on an important role at Aston Villa.
In hindsight, his development makes Bayern’s decision at the time particularly interesting. Last summer, Manzambi would still have been available directly from Freiburg. Now that Aston Villa has invested a massive transfer fee and the Swiss player has continued to impress in England, a transfer to Munich would likely involve a completely different financial scale.
According to information from Sky, a move to Bayern at this time is therefore not a realistic scenario. The Munich club apparently had its chance last summer—and let it slip away.