Football: Transfer market is 'crazy': Ancelotti

Ancelotti adamant Vidal will not leave amid interest from today's opponents Inter Milan

Remote video URL
Hummels on Inter Milan.
Bayern Munich stars Mats Hummels (left) and Thomas Muller training at the National Stadium ahead of today's clash against Inter Milan. Defender Hummels rates the Serie A outfit as a strong side.
Bayern Munich stars Mats Hummels (left) and Thomas Muller training at the National Stadium ahead of today's clash against Inter Milan. Defender Hummels rates the Serie A outfit as a strong side. ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI

Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti has branded the transfer market "completely crazy", but ruled out an exit for Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal.

The Italian joins a host of others, including Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho as well as Tottenham owner Daniel Levy in denouncing the amounts being spent on players.

English top-flight teams alone have spent more than £750 million (S$1.33 billion) in this transfer window, and the spending is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon, with rumours of world-record bids for Barcelona's Neymar (£200 million to Paris Saint-Germain) and Monaco's Kylian Mbappe (£161 million to Real Madrid) swirling.

Speaking ahead of Bayern's International Champions Cup game against Inter Milan tonight, Ancelotti confirmed that Bayern are unlikely to make any more moves in the transfer market this season, with new additions Corentin Tolisso and James Rodriguez "adapting well".

He also reiterated that Vidal is not for sale, amid interest from none other than their next opposition.

He said: "Inter have a new manager in (Luciano) Spalletti, I think he has a lot of experience and will help Inter have a better season. They might be looking for new players but they are wrong when they think about Vidal.

"I told my friend (Inter director of football Walter) Sabatini and Spalletti that Vidal doesn't move."

But Ancelotti remained coy over the future of Portuguese starlet Renato Sanches, 19, who is reportedly unsettled at the club .

"Renato is with us now, (only) after pre-season will we make a decision. He played really well yesterday (against Chelsea) and I hope he can continue to improve." he said.

Despite coming off the back of an impressive 3-2 win over English champions Chelsea, Bayern defender Mats Hummels remains wary of the threat posed by the Italian side.

"I think Inter are really a strong side," he said. "They have good players whom I've heard much about, like Ivan Perisic, but I can't really say much about a side I don't know much about."

Ancelotti took a broader view of today's game, saying: "The game will be another test. Our physical condition is not the best (after playing two games in four days), so we will need to rely on our quality, organisation and concentration. But theses games are good preparation and we are slowly improving."

Bayern will play their last pre-season games in next week's Audi Cup, before facing Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup on Aug 6.

Looking back on their pre-season thus far, having played games in both China and Singapore, Ancelotti was sufficiently pleased with the club's preparations for the season ahead.

"We lost Thiago (Alcantara) and Juan (Bernat) to injuries, but other than that, the games were really good preparation. We didn't play well against AC Milan (on Saturday) but I think that the condition of the players is improving," he said.

"We have one more week to prepare well for the Super Cup and we will not be at 100 per cent, but we will be competitive and of course we want to win."

BAYERN V INTER
Mediacorp okto, 7.20pm

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 27, 2017, with the headline Football: Transfer market is 'crazy': Ancelotti. Subscribe