By Oliver Trust
BERLIN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has renewed his criticism of rising transfer fees in football after the group draw of the 2017/2018 Champions League on Friday.
This time, Hoeness attacked clubs like Manchester City and the club's Group B opponent Paris St Germain for splashing out ending huge sums on international stars.
"Clubs like Manchester City and Paris St. Germain haven't won anything yet. I'm not worried because I'm convinced that money does not inevitably win titles," said the 65-year old.
Drawn in Group B, Bayern Munich will face Scotland's Glasgow Celtic, Belgians RSC Anderlecht and Paris St German, one of the favorites.
Hoeness stressed that the 2013 Champions League winner wouldn't be joining the crazy race for stars by paying immense sums of money to try to secure success. "It's difficult for every club to win the Champions League. Transfers between 100 and 200 million euro are no insurance that you will win a major international title," Hoeness emphasized.
Bayern Munich will stick to a conservative spending policy. "We've decided to keep our coffers topped up and still be competitive enough to be successful. Bayern Munich has to find its own way to when it comes to national and international competitions," the former German international told German media after Paris signed Brazilian striker Neymar Junior for 222 million euro from Barcelona.
Hoeness said that the club feels that, "It's not the right way to find investors prepared to pump billions of euro into a club like Bayern." The German club would be certain to receive several offers but intends to keep its independence.
The club's new 70 million euro academy is its answer to the "crazy things going on in the international transfer market," Hoeness commented.
Other than Real Madrid, no other club, no matter how much they have invested, has been a regular Champions League winner. The Bavarian club prefers to invest in infrastructure rather than in expensive players.
Hoeness was supported by the former German international, Lothar Matthaeus. The 56-year-old told the German pay-tv channel "sky" that, "Bayern has the quality to win the 2017/2018 Champions League."
He felt that up to 10 teams could win this season's competition. In addition to Bayern, Matthaeus sees titleholder Real Madrid, Paris, Juventus Turin, Barcelona and the Premier League clubs Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea as potential winners.
The Champions League final will take place on May 26th 2018 in Kiev.
All three German participants are hopeful of progressing past the group stage of the Champions League. The 2012 German champion Borussia Dortmund will face the hardest group as it has been pitted against Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur and Apoel Nicosia in Group H. Dortmund and Tottenham are expected to battle for the second place that guarantees a berth in the last 16.
Last season's Bundesliga newcomer, RB Leipzig is happy about what seems to be the easiest group as the East-German side will be up against AS Monaco, FC Porto and Besiktas Istanbul in Group G.
Leipzig for the first time in the club history is part of the Champions League.
