'Everything for the benefit of the club!'

Matthias Sammer, director of sport at FC Bayern, has been at his post for just under two weeks. The 44-year-old has previously avoided the public limelight, preferring to apply himself to his work. Sammer does not want to lose any time and he is keen to get to know his new club as soon as possible. He hasn’t missed a single training session so far. Sammer watches, thinks things over and confers with head coach Jupp Heynckes.

On Friday, at the unveiling of new signing Mario Mandzukic, Sammer spoke for the first time since his inaugural press conference. And he described his duties as follows: “I’m going to try and introduce sporting guidelines in the future without stepping on the toes of the coach.” Sammer strongly rebuffed questions on tactics and the team formation. He declared: “We’ve got an outstanding coach. I’m not prepared to talk about those matters!”