Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Raphael Honigstein in Germany


FC Bayern Munich has been following Xherdan Shaqiri's progress keenly since September 2010, when the Swiss winger's raw ability was noticed in two Champions League meetings with FC Basel at the age of 18. "If Bayern was to call, I wouldn't have to think too long," Shaqiri said at the time, in response to Swiss media speculation that the Germans were interested to secure his services. Bayern kept tabs on the player and asked Basel keep the lines of communication open. "The name Shaqiri is anything but new to us," Bayern president Uli Hoeneß told Zurich-based Tagesanzeiger last year. In Swiss papers, a bid had been speculated throughout last season and again in the summer, so there was little surprise when an agreement was finally announced last week. Despite this sense of inevitability, it still took a number of coincidental as well as interrelated developments to bring the €11.6 million ($15.1M) deal to fruition.

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