The Bundesliga league leaders planned to steer clear of the January transfer market, but untimely injuries suffered by Javi Martinez and Jerome Boateng sparked them into action
The plan at Bayern Munich was to watch the last-minute hustle and bustle of the January transfer window from a safe distance. Suddenly, though, urgent action was required and the Bundesliga champions had to wade in.
Injuries sustained by Jerome Boateng and Javi Martinez forced Bayern into the market and Serdar Tasci unveiled on Monday evening.
"There's no good player on the market, so we will not do anything," Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had said last week. That plan had to be changed, but the Bayern chief executive's comments suggested that they were not initially convinced by Tasci, the Spartak Moscow centre-back formerly of Stuttgart.
The transfer certainly seems logical, however. Tasci is quick across the ground and looks well-suited to the style of Pep Guardiola.
There is no financial risk to the deal, either: the 28-year-old arrives on loan with an option to buy, meaning Bayern have avoided having to pay over the odds for a short-term replacement.
On the other hand, Tasci is a player who is not exactly used to performing at the highest level, as well as a worrying injury record. Whether he is good enough for a club chasing Champions League glory remains to be seen.
Tasci does at least provide another option at the back. Holger Badstuber, the only nominal central defender available, has stood in in recent weeks but he too has a history of length lay-offs.
"It would be useful to sign a defender," former Bayern striker Giovane Elber had said before the injury to Martinez. "If anyone else gets injured, it becomes very tough and risks messing up the whole season."
To what extent the acquisition of the 14-time Germany international pays off will only become clear over the next few weeks and months.
While Tasci has arrived at the Allianz Arena, three others have moved elsewhere. Centre-back Jan Kircchoff joined Sunderland, Sinan Kurt moved to Hertha BSC and Gianluca Gaudino went on loan to St. Gallen.
All in all, it was a rather unusual winter window for Bayern.
"Strategically, we have not planned anything," sporting director Matthias Sammer insisted in mid-December. "[But] imagine on Saturday, four players tear ligaments. Of course we would have to react."
That is almost exactly how things played out in Munich. Sammer, though, would not have expected that worst-case scenario to actually become reality.
- Goal