The Japan Times - 'Money': Bayern's Kompany laments Premier League spending power

Speaking at a press conference in Munich on Friday, the Bayern boss, who won four league titles with Manchester City and won promotion to the English top flight with Burnley, was asked to explain the Premier League's appeal.

"Money," Kompany said smiling, before comparing the financial power of promoted clubs in England to some of the continent's best.

"When we got promoted with Burnley, the TV rights came in and it was 100 million pounds (115 million euros, $134 million) -- for a promoted team.

"With Burnley, we were competing on the market with Frankfurt for players and with Wolfsburg. When Sunderland are buying players, they're buying them from Leverkusen."

One of the few clubs who can compete with the Premier League's big guns, Bayern missed out on their main target this summer when Florian Wirtz moved to English champions Liverpool for a fee of 125 million euros (145 million dollars) plus bonuses.

Woltemade was another major Bayern target but Stuttgart refused to sell when Bayern did not meet their asking price.

German and English media reported Woltemade will sign with Newcastle for a club-record fee of 85 million euro, plus bonuses.

With the summer transfer window still open, Premier League clubs have collectively bought players for an estimated 2.7 billion pounds (3.1bn euros, 3.6bn dollars) before the season started.

Along with Wirtz, Bayer Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong and Granit Xhaka, Eintracht Frankfurt's Hugo Ekitike, Borussia Dortmund's Jamie Gittens and RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko have all left the Bundesliga for England.

Sitting alongside Kompany, Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said the money Premier League clubs can spend is "brutal" and "extreme."

"Newcastle is a good club, but hasn't been in the top tier in recent years.

"It says something fundamental when you see how many players are moving from the Bundesliga to the Premier League -- and the sums of money involved."

Despite the departures, a handful of players have moved in the other direction, some on big money deals.

Bayern signed Luis Diaz from Liverpool for a fee of up to 75 million, Leverkusen brought in English centre-back talent Jarell Quansah, also from Liverpool, while Dortmund recruited four players from the Premier League including Jobe Bellingham and Carney Chukwuemeka.

In 2023, Bayern set a new club record fee when they paid 95 million euros to sign England captain Harry Kane from Tottenham.

S.Fujimoto--JT