Rival Club Chief Unleashes Savage Attack on Liverpool's Arne Slot
Bayern Munich's honorary president Uli Hoeneß launched a scathing attack on Liverpool, criticizing the club's summer spending spree and expressing mock sympathy for Florian Wirtz, who he claims is struggling due to the alleged selfishness permeating the squad.
Hoeneß has a reputation for controversial statements. This is someone who has publicly branded agents as "greedy piranhas" and doesn't hesitate to criticize individual players, including those at Bayern. One of Hoeneß's biggest grievances is the financial extravagance of the Premier League, which operates on a vastly different model compared to the supporter-owned clubs in the Bundesliga.
Liverpool demonstrated this financial power during the summer with total expenditure approaching £450 million ($595.1 million). Bayern, in contrast, has invested approximately £370 million across the last three seasons combined.
Despite this massive investment, Liverpool has struggled significantly in defending their Premier League crown. Sunday's 2–0 triumph over relegation-threatened West Ham United concluded a devastating sequence of nine losses in 12 matches. Hoeneß made no attempt to conceal his satisfaction.
"They invested €500 million and are experiencing a catastrophic campaign," he laughed before 10,000 attendees at a business gathering in Munich's Olympic Hall, as reported by BILD. "In my view, that's because they possess only superstars. They have all chiefs and no Indians—I probably shouldn't phrase it that way, they're indigenous peoples."
Hoeneß: 'Poor Florian Wirtz'
Contributing to Hoeneß's resentment was Liverpool's success in outmaneuvering Bayern for Wirtz's services.
The experienced football executive maintained dialogue with the player's representatives throughout the summer and appeared close to securing someone he publicly declared as Germany's finest young talent. However, Liverpool intervened decisively, completing what became a club-record £116 million transfer that Bayern's sporting director Max Eberl acknowledged exceeded their financial capabilities.
"I consistently maintain: At Liverpool, they'll need to use five footballs soon because the stars refuse to share any of them. Poor Florian Wirtz, he can't even touch a ball because [Mohamed] Salah and [Dominik] Szoboszlai and the rest want to play with their personal ones," Hoeneß sneered.
The Bayern executive isn't alone in noting that Wirtz receives significantly fewer touches in the final third compared to his Bundesliga days—though Bayer Leverkusen's Simon Rolfes expressed this observation more tactfully.
Hoeneß intensified his criticism of Wirtz's move, dramatically claiming Slot deceived the player to secure the transfer. "Clearly, manager Slot made promises he's failing to honor," the former Germany international complained.
"He definitely assured him he'd receive the No. 10 shirt. He was adamant about that. And he also pledged to construct a fresh team centered around him. Ridiculous! The reality is, he's now wearing No. 7, and his new squad is playing everything except around Florian Wirtz. And with Liverpool's numerous defeats, the season is essentially finished."
Slot Praises Wirtz's Resurgence
Hoeneß's cutting remarks came at a peculiar moment. Just hours before, Wirtz had produced what many considered his finest Liverpool display thus far.
Playing in his preferred No. 10 position (despite still wearing No. 7) with Dominik Szoboszlai positioned to his right instead of Mohamed Salah, the compact playmaker weaved through West Ham's defensive lines. Wirtz generated just one scoring opportunity—which Alexander Isak sent sailing over the crossbar from the penalty area's edge—but consistently orchestrated Liverpool's offensive movements.
It was the German's skillful run that created space for Cody Gakpo to set up Isak for the match's first goal. As Slot concluded, it represented "a strong performance" from the returning creator.
"We attempted to establish an additional midfielder and he proved crucial in helping us locate that extra midfielder consistently," Slot detailed.
"He excelled when dribbling, he was exceptional with his quick passes, I recall a instance when he delivered the ball diagonally into the penalty area to Cody Gakpo, which didn't result in a shot so no expected goals value. We experienced numerous such moments and he contributed to many of those instances."