Now it’s getting serious at Bayern: The German soccer record champions are apparently increasing the pressure on the unvaccinated professionals in the squad: According to media reports, Joshua Kimmich and Co. are now concerned with money when they are down. The coach is annoyed, the measure should meet with approval from the team.
Joshua Kimmich was absent from FC Bayern in the completely surprising Bundesliga defeat against FC Augsburg, the highly paid midfielder will also be absent in the Champions League on Tuesday at Dynamo Kiev. The reason: Kimmich had been in contact with a person who tested positive for the coronavirus in the past week. Because Kimmich is not vaccinated, he has to be quarantined. At least until after the Kiev game.
It is the second time, the 26-year-old only tested himself out of his first isolation on Monday. Together with Kimmich, the unvaccinated professionals Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting were also missing. They all had contact with their colleague Niklas Süle who tested positive but had been vaccinated twice.
For FC Bayern, the lack of its stars is becoming more and more of a nuisance. Now the club is apparently increasing the pressure on its unvaccinated employees – and, according to a media report, is keeping parts of their lavish wages.
As the “Bild am Sonntag” claims to have found out from team circles, the unvaccinated professionals – besides Kimmich, Gnabry, Musiala and Choupo-Moting and Michael Cuisance – were taken from the executive floor with CEO Oliver Kahn, President Herbert Hainer, Sports Director Hasan Salihamidzic and Finance Boss Jan-Christian Dreesen, spoken urgently into conscience. There was a first consequence of this.
FC Bayern: The rest of the team sees the measure as positive
According to the newspaper, it was said to have been announced to the players that their salaries would be withheld for the quarantine period. The professionals were completely surprised by this measure, it is said. “Sport1” goes even further: Accordingly, the players concerned are said to have reacted with incomprehension.
The decision of the club management was received positively by the rest of the team, according to “Bild”. According to the tabloid report, there should also be a fifth unvaccinated player who was not in quarantine and therefore does not have to accept any losses.
Further measures do not seem to be ruled out at Bayern. “In this way, the non-vaccinated stars could be isolated from their colleagues during training,” writes the “Bild am Sonntag”.
Joshua Kimmich faces loss of earnings of 768,000 euros
CEO Kahn had already announced in October that the association had “a clear stance” and recommended everyone to get vaccinated. However, you also have to “respect if one or the other has a different opinion,” said Kahn, referring to Kimmich. That was what they said to the players at the address on Thursday, according to the “Bild am Sonntag”.
At the same time, you also have the right to withhold money in the event of failures due to the vaccination status. According to the currently applicable ordinance of the responsible Munich-Land health department, only unvaccinated contact persons currently have to be in quarantine. Even if you have tested negative yourself and are symptom-free.
Legally, FC Bayern would be on the safe side with the measure: According to a regulation of the city of Munich, which came into force on November 1, employees are not entitled to a quarantine-related loss of earnings if this happens due to their unvaccinated status. Because the midfield star is already out for the second week, he faces a loss of earnings of around 768,000 euros with an estimated annual salary of 20 million euros.
FC Bayern announced on Friday, just hours before the game in the evening, that Kimmich had to be quarantined again. Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann had urged Kimmich and Co to get vaccinated the day before. The risk is “on the platter. The numbers are frightening. We notice it with us too. There are always problem cases,” he said.
Nagelsmann puts the annoying topic more and more to the table. “It annoys and occupies you. Nobody asks anything about Augsburg, we only talk about the pandemic,” he said, adding emphatically: “I am a trainer and not employed as a pandemic officer.” It is only about “2G and 3G. It binds a lot of thoughts, there is a lot of discussion. The pandemic is not letting go of us.”
The fact that Kimmich was absent from Augsburg due to a new quarantine order was clearly evident in the Bayern game. “I don’t think that’s an excuse. It’s too easy for me,” stressed Nagelsmann. Other clubs are likely to complain “a lot more if they fail once or twice. We at Bayern Munich shouldn’t do that, however.” The Bayern coach admitted that “there are phases in life that are quieter”.
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