The offseason in the Bundesliga has been very busy

And, alas, so have I, and once again neglected my blog. But enough of the apologies! Here’s a general look at what’s been going on over the past couple of months, with a team by team look at the weekend. Then I’ll make like Charles the First and stick my neck out for the forthcoming season.

Any pre-season analysis has to start with Bayern. A fourth placed finish last year for the Bavarians means no Champions League this year, and they didn’t even have the consolation of a Cup win either. Manager Uli Hoeneß and coach Ottmar Hitzfeld both decreed that this wasn’t good enough, and have instituted the biggest (or certainly what it the most expensive) squad overhaul in Bundesliga history. It was something of a coup to get Luca Toni from Fiorentina on board for €10m, especially as Juventus and Internazionale were rumoured to be interest, and more so to get Franck Ribéry to join for a club record €25m from Marseille, with plenty of alleged Premier League interest. The bitter wrangle to get Miroslav Klose to join also reached a much drawn out conclusion, with Bayern adding another €2m to their original €10m offer to get him from Werder. Notables leaving Bayern include Roy Makaay (Feyenoord) and Hasan Salihamidzic (Juventus). Here’s a possible clip of the upcoming season – Bayern spanked Werder 4-1 in the Ligapokal (League Cup), which is traditionally a pre-season tournament in Germany, with half their first team missing.

Vfb Stuttgart, the reigning champions, have also invested. Romanian striker Ciprian Marica has moved from Shaktar Donetzk for €8m and loaned Ewerthon (previously of Borussia Dortmund) from Real Zaragoza for €1,2mm this season. Yildiray Bastürk has also signed a contract after spending his previous 3 seasons with Hertha Berlin. They have, however, lost their superb goalkeeper of the past decade, Timo Hildebrand, to Valncia. Jon-Dahl Tomasson and Marco Streller have also left. Vfb play Bayern in the semi-final of the Ligapokal tonight.

Schalke have been rather more low key (although it’s heavily rumoured that Stephen Appiah will be joining from Fenerbache by the end of the week), the most notable recruits being Ivan Rakitic from Basel and Jermaine Jones (the traitorous little shit) from Eintracht Frankfurt. Notable losses include Lincoln, who moved to Galatasaray, and Hamit Altintop, to Bayern. The stability seems to have worked though – they beat Karlsruhe SC 1-0 at the weekend and trounced Nürnberg 4-2 away in the other league cup semi last night.

The news from Werder Bremen isn’t good. At least, not for their fans. Klose has gone. Thorsten Frings has torn a ligament in his knee and will miss the first half of the season. And in has come Carlos Alberto from Fluminese, and Boubacar Sanago from HSV (last season, 31 games, four goals, you do the maths). Leon Adreasen has at least returned from his loan spell in Mainz to add some bite to the midfield, but it remains to be seen whether Hunt, Almeida, Klasnic and Sanago can replace the all round excellence of Klose.

The rest of the league has been busy, but not bleeding cash. Angelos Charisteas, he of Euro 2004 fame, has joined Nürnberg from Ajax. Ailton, top scorer in the Bundesliga just three years ago is back and playing for MSV Duisburg having endured a rather tortuous journey around southeastern Europe. Robert Kovac has moved from Juventus to Dortmund. Junichi Inamoto has joined Eintracht from Fenerbache. Last years golden boot winner, Theofanis Gekas, has moved from Bochum to Leverkusen. And, like watching any new Quentin Tarantino film, that is about all that is exciting.

PS Bayern beat Schalke 1-0 in a pretty lame League Cup final