The Austrian, born in 1977, was a player until 2013, but never surpassed the second position in his home country. In recent years, he has worked on Red Bull Salzburg’s management team, first as team principal in 2006 and then as sporting director. coordinator in 2012 and, despite everything, sporting director in 2015, succeeding Ralf Rangnick.
In the 8 seasons prior to their move to Bayern Munich, the Red Bull team was the dominant force in Austrian football, winning the league 8 times and the cup six times.
The post was vacant because Freund’s predecessor, Hasan Salihamidzic, was sacked along with CEO Oliver Kahn in May, immediately after Bayern’s final game of the season, when they narrowly won the Bundesliga championship. The Munich team had had a largely unsatisfactory season. After the mismanagement of Julian Nagelsmann’s training by Thomas Tuchel, the team was eliminated from the German Cup against Freiburg and the Champions League against Manchester City. In addition, Salihamidzic had failed to successfully manage the succession of top players. Goalscorer Robert Lewandowski. Su “king of transfers”, Sadio Mané, missed.
The 46-year-old has a great sense of ability and excels as a professional negotiator in moving deals. During his stay in Salzburg, long-time stars such as Erling Haaland, Karim Adeyemi, Dominik Szoboszlai and many other wonderful skills arrived. He also made huge profits at RB Salzburg, with many players turning heads with flashy performances in the Austrian league.
Haaland arrived from Norway for 8 million euros ($8. 7 million), played only 22 official matches for Salzburg and scored 28 goals, and was sold to Borussia Dortmund for 20 million euros. Szoboszlai arrived at the Red Bull team in 2018 for part of one million euros Educational team of FC Liefering and after 3 years transferred to RB Leipzig for 36 million euros.
Another example is that of the American Brenden Aaronson, who arrived in Salzburg from the Philadelphia Union for 12. 7 million euros in January 2021 and left for Leeds for 32. 8 million euros 18 months later.
However, the discovery and formation of skills is limited to players. Many coaches who shone in Red Bull’s Austrian empire are now hired as head coaches in the Bundesliga and other more sensible leagues. RB Leipzig’s Marco Rose, Mainz’s Bo Svensson and Bochum coach Thomas Letsch are all working in Germany’s elite lately.
In addition to achieving the greatest sporting successes imaginable, something that evidently at Bayern, Freund would like to focus more on young people again. After the era of local stars such as Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Müller and others, talents graduated. The last player to enter the Bundesliga as a starter at Bayern’s Campus, the club’s youth progression centre, was Jamal Musiala, who had already been at Chelsea eight years earlier.
“The biggest challenge will be turning young players into wonderful players. There is still room for improvement and the campus can be even more important,” the new sporting director said on Bayern’s website.
But Bayern enthusiasts can still expect more signings from stars like Harry Kane: “We need to bring in some players from the Campus, but we will also continue to sign the most sensible players,” Freund promised. “It’s a combination of both. “
This article has been translated from German.