Interview with board member for sportl Max Eberl: 'Staying human – that’s always been important to me'

Tough on the pitch, tough in transfer dealings – that’s how Max Eberl sees himself. And he’s convinced that a small squad can work. In an interview with FC Bayern members' magazine '51', our board member for sport talks about Michael Olise, the path to signing Vincent Kompany, and decisions that keep him awake at night.

Max Eberl – The interview

Herr Eberl, when you first became sporting director at Gladbach in 2008, you asked your best friends to give you a slap on the back of the head if you started to get a bit too big for your boots. Have they ever had to step in?
“It’s often said that the number of true friends you have in life is manageable – but I’m happy that I can rely on four very good ones. And, fortunately, they’ve rarely had to give me a slap on the back of the head – quite the opposite, in fact. Sometimes they’ve said: ‘Hey, why don’t you take a moment to be proud of what you’ve achieved?’ I often tend towards being understated and prefer to ask myself what I can do even better. Tough on the pitch, tough in transfer dealings – of course. But staying human in the process – that’s always been important to me.”

Anyone can see that Michael Olise is a top footballer. How did you know he’d be a good fit for Bayern?
“He’d had a rather chequered career: he’d been through various youth academies in England. But a CV like that doesn’t necessarily have to be a red flag – setbacks can also shape a player. To get to know a footballer, you need, above all, to talk to people who’ve played alongside him or against him. With Michael, we had the advantage that Oliver Glasner was his coach at Crystal Palace at the time – and our sporting director, Christoph Freund, knows Glasner very well. When a coach says, ‘Sure, sign him, sign him’, you start to wonder. But Glasner said: ‘He’s still got a lot to learn – and we could do with holding on to him.’ Then you knew he rated him highly. And then there were the conversations with Michael himself: it’s a pleasure to talk to him about football.”

Did you realise back then just how good he could become?
“To be honest: we knew we were signing a very good left-footed winger, typical of Bayern, but to think he’d be this brilliant…? The transfer fee was predictable because of the release clause. The fact that he’s developed so well is also down to the environment and the team.”

How does a group of good players become a close-knit community?
"With a team like Bayern, the desire to achieve something great together is a key factor. And the coach has a huge influence on that. When I first visited the first-team training centre after joining in March 2024, I thought: what a sense of lethargy. Like a cloak of gloom. Guys, we’re at FC Bayern! We can win the league every year – surely we should be enjoying ourselves! Vincent Kompany has completely breathed new life into the team. Many of the players are the same – but they seem like completely different people.”

Harry Kane, too, has established himself as a true leader in Munich.
”In a team with a few issues, even someone like Harry Kane finds it harder to perform at his best. Now things work well around him. What impressed me was this: in Vinnie’s first year, we lost 4–1 in Barcelona. After the match, Vinnie asked the group, ‘What did you make of that?’ Harry stood up and gave an impressive speech that got straight to the point. Since then, he’s always led the way and never shied away from a challenge. We knew him as a top centre-forward. But the way he plays today, the role that the system and his teammates enable him to fulfil – that’s extraordinary. He’s the finest example of what a player can still become when all his qualities come together.”

Would you agree with the suggestion that your marquee signing wasn’t a player, but Vincent Kompany?
“I joined the club at a time when it was already clear that the coach wouldn’t be staying on after the end of the season. And now, with the benefit of hindsight, I can say this: if I’d put forward Vincent Kompany as the very first candidate – I don’t know how people would have reacted. The coach who was relegated with Burnley as Thomas Tuchel’s successor?”

So how did you decide on him?
“Naturally, we worked through a list of candidates. Julian Nagelsmann was one – that’s no secret. I had a very good rapport with him, but he opted for the national team. Ralf Rangnick also decided to pursue other opportunities. We meticulously analysed the market at the time – and everything we heard about the young Burnley coach was positive. At one point, I said: ‘I’m just going to give Vinnie a call.’ We spoke on the phone before our Champions League semi-final in Madrid. After four hours, I had to say: ‘Sorry, it’s six o'clock, I have to go to the team talk.’ I hung up and thought: Wow, that feels good! He’s a genuine character. Then I asked Christoph Freund to form his own opinion. He came back and was convinced too.”

So how did you end up bringing Kompany in?
”Vinnie had been promoted with Burnley on 101 points and then relegated again. You could have thought: ‘He can’t get it right; he doesn’t adapt.’ But we saw it differently. He has a clear vision of football. He didn’t want to sit back with eight men at the back in the Premier League against the billion-pound squads of Manchester City and Liverpool, just hoping to pick up a point. He wanted to win matches; for me, that was a plus. What’s more, I knew that Pep Guardiola had Vinnie on his shortlist as his successor should he ever step down as City coach. During all these discussions – in which Jan-Christian Dreesen and Herbert Hainer were always involved – I suggested that Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeneß should simply give Pep a ring, as they have a good relationship with him. Two hours after that phone call, the response came: ‘Okay, we’ll do it!’”

And then?
"Then I flew to Manchester with Christoph for the final meeting. At three o’clock in the morning, Vinnie said, ‘Right, I’d like to sleep on it and discuss it with my wife.’ I lay down on his sofa. He asked, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Uli said I’m not allowed to leave your house until you’ve signed.’ Then he said, ‘Right, Max, I’ll do it. But I need to talk to my wife first.’ He ended up pushing me out the door after all (laughs).”

Alongside Kompany and Freund, you've continued to develop the team since then. In doing so, you've consciously kept the squad small. Where does your conviction that this approach works come from?
”First of all, you need an idea. And that idea must never call into question a club’s culture and history. The culture at FC Bayern is all about playing football actively, with outstanding footballers. And these days, they cost an incredible amount of money. When I arrived, we had 22 full-time professional players, all of whom expected to play. We decided we would focus on the very best players who could win us the Champions League and, alongside them, young players with potential who would also get game time. But that only works if the squad is small enough and the coach knows: ‘I have to develop this lad because I’ll need him tomorrow.’"

You’re often described as being very empathetic. But you also have to make decisions that cause pain. Doesn’t empathy get in the way in situations like that?
“On the contrary. Empathy makes you even more aware of the decisions you’re making, and you ask yourself: Is this the right thing to do? But in my job, I sometimes have to make tough decisions – that’s part of my role. What matters is the process leading up to it. Do I go up to a player out of the blue and tell him it’s over? Or do I speak to him beforehand, give him some guidance and say things need to improve? That’s something I’ve learnt to do. I still have to make the decision – some decisions keep me awake at night. What matters to me is that I can look in the mirror and say: ‘That was tough, but it was the best thing for the club at the time.’"

FC Bayern will play Ajax as part of the grand opening of Kenya's new national stadium: