By John Bagratuni Aug 5, 2009, 13:32 GMT
Hamburg - Bayern Munich signed Mario Gomez for a Bundesliga record 30 million euros even before the past season had ended and the biggest coaching move also took place before the summer holidays.
Munich got the Germany striker Gomez from VfB Stuttgart between the league season finale and the cup final in late May and had also completed several other deals early on as they once again led the German spending spree with more than 50 million euros.
'He (Gomez) is a first class striker who has scored around 20 goals in each of the past three seasons and has proven to be one of the best strikers in Germany,' said Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in explanation of the German league record fee.
Munich also signed Ukraine midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk from Zenit St Petersburg for 11 million euros while Croatia forward Ivica Olic joined from SV Hamburg for free.
The top club became active on the transfer market again once Louis van Gaal was appointed coach. Croatian winger Danijel Pranjic and Dutch defender Edson Braafheid joined the club from the Netherlands for another 10 million euros.
While Munich resisted huge interest and a big fee from Real Madrid by declaring French star Frank Ribery not for sale, the did lose Brazilians Ze Roberto and Lucio, while Lukas Podolski and Tim Borowski were offloaded.
The economic crisis has seemingly not affected the Bundesliga as the clubs have spent a record 178.5 million euros. But that figure for all 18 clubs is still less than Real have spent on their own for the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and others this summer.
Munich got 10 million euros as Podolski returned home to Cologne. But Stuttgart received the biggest sum of the summer, for Gomez, while Werder Bremen raked in 24.5 million euros for selling Brazilian playmaker Diego to Juventus Turin.
Munich' star-studded team is once again the overwhelming title favourite while champions VfL Wolfsburg must prove their without the magic from coach Felix Magath.
Magath announced before the end of the past season that he will fulfil a personal dream by taking charge at Schalke. A first German title since 1958 is the top priority for Magath at the club which has made no big summer signing.
Wolfsburg have Armin Veh as coach now, the man who led Stuttgart to a surprise title in 2007. Backed by carmakers Volkswagen, the club spent some 20 million euros on Nigerian forward Obafemi Martins and midfielders Karim Ziani and Thomas Kahlenberg.
Stuttgart have reinvested part of the money for Gomez on Russia forward Pavel Pogrebnyak (11 million euros) and the return of Belarussian Alexander Hleb on loan from Barcelona.
Hamburg have splashed out 20 million euros spent on Swedish striker talent Marcus Berg and Eljero Elia, who both join from Dutch sides. Northern German rivals Bremen splashed out 8.5 million euros on midfielder Marko Marin.
But not only players have moved, there has also been a record number of changes on the coaching bench as eight of the 18 teams have a new helmsman and three others are making their top flight debut.
Munich (van Gaal), Bayer Leverkusen (Jupp Heynckes), Schalke (Magath), Hamburg (Bruno Labbadia), Wolfsburg (Veh), Borussia Mönchengladbach (Michael Frontzeck), Eintracht Frankfurt (Michael Skibbe) and Mainz (Thomas Tuchel) have new coaches. Zvonimir Soldo (Cologne), Robin Dutt (SC Freiburg) and Michael Oenning (Nuremberg) are new faces in the Bundesliga.
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