Karl-Heinz Rummenigge says Bayern Munich were not just interested in Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué — they were seriously trying to sign both Paris Saint-Germain attackers before they ended up in Paris. In an interview with t-online, the 70-year-old said Borussia Dortmund beat Bayern to Dembélé when the forward was still at Stade Rennes, and said Doué chose Paris because he wanted to stay in his native France.
Rummenigge said Bayern and sporting director Michael Reschke “really wanted to sign” Dembélé, adding that Dortmund had the edge at the time because of its equipment deal with Puma while Bayern were an Adidas club. He called Dembélé “a wonderful player,” but also said he “needs to be managed well.” On Doué, he was equally direct: “We would have liked to sign him, he would have suited us very well, but he opted for Paris because he wanted to stay in his native France.”
The comments land with Bayern set to face PSG in the Champions League, where Dembélé and Doué could shape the semi-finals. That makes the missed transfers more than a footnote. Bayern are looking at two players who now wear Paris shirts and who, by Rummenigge’s own account, were both on the club’s wish list before they moved elsewhere.
Rummenigge also rejected the idea that Bayern’s supervisory board blocked the Doué move for financial reasons, saying: “No, anyone who says that is telling fairy tales.” He argued the deal would have made sense on value, saying the transfer fee and salary “would have been a good fit for us in terms of price-performance ratio.” That leaves the sharper reality of modern European football: even a club like Bayern can lose out when a player prefers home, another club moves faster, or more money is waiting somewhere else.
“We will also miss out on one or two players in the future because more money might be paid elsewhere,” Rummenigge said. “You have to accept that.”
