"We are very happy that we have been able to sign claudio pizarro, an internationally experienced attacker who is very capable of scoring goals," said christian nerlinger. The former bremer is the fourth new signing for the new season after central defender dante (borussia monchengladbach), midfielder xherdan shaqiri (FC basel) and tom starke from 1899 hoffenheim as substitute goalkeeper.
Pizarro was already under contract with munich from 2001 to 2007. Also at that time he had come from werder bremen and scored 71 goals in 174 bundesliga games in his first bayern time. With 160 goals in 333 games, the attacker is the most successful foreigner in bundesliga history.
Pizarro celebrated the double three times during his time at bayern. The 33-year-old returned to SV werder via FC chelsea – and now to munich without a transfer fee. There he should be backup for national attacker mario gomez. More than ever, the future of former second division goalkeeper nils petersen in the bayern attack is thus open. Bremen had recently expressed interest in petersen, the storm exchange could be made perfect in the next few days.
With the addition of pizarro, FC bayern is also bracing itself for the aftermath of the european championship. Since the national players only start their preparations later, the non-european championship participants are helping the bavarian team to progress in this phase in particular.
The contract was signed on the sidelines of the spanish cup final between athletic bilbao and FC barcelona (0:3) on friday evening. There was speculation in "bild" and "kicker" that munich are also interested in bilbao’s defensive all-rounder javi martinez.
At the national team’s training camp in seefeld, austria’s david alaba was rumored to be of interest to top teams such as FC barcelona and manchester united. "I don’t know anything about it and I don’t let myself get crazy. I want to do my best in every training session, learn and develop," said the 19-year-old.