TL;DR
Bayern Munich nearly signed Ousmane Dembélé in 2016, but Borussia Dortmund secured him instead. Rummenigge revealed that Bayern's Adidas sponsorship complicated the deal.
PARIS, FRANCE - APRIL 22: Ousmane Dembele #10 of Paris Saint-Germain looks on during the Ligue 1 McDonald's match between Paris Saint-Germain and FC Nantes at Parc des Princes on April 22, 2026 in Paris, France. (Photo by Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images) | Getty Images
PARIS, FRANCE - APRIL 22: Ousmane Dembele #10 of Paris Saint-Germain looks on during the Ligue 1 McDonald's match between Paris Saint-Germain and FC Nantes at Parc des Princes on April 22, 2026 in Paris, France. (Photo by Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Sometimes it is fun to wonder how the world would be different if things had gone a different way. For example, what transfers did a club like Bayern Munich come so close to making but ultimately fail to pull off? How would things look Take the way Bayern passed on a young, future multi Champions League winner Raphaël Varane back in 2011. Would he have been a big part of the treble push? Perhaps one would say the sale of Toni Kroos to Real Madrid was a mistake that allowed *Los Blancos* to strengthen further. What if that had never happened?
Another player in that mold is Ousmane DembĂ©lĂ©. The current holder of the Ballon Dâor starred for back in the 2015/16 season for just one season before being picked up by . One year later, he transferred to , went through his many ups and downs before moving on to Paris Saint Germain. There, he has won the sextuple and been hailed as the best player in the world.
But what if he had gone to Munich instead? Supervisory board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was asked about Bayernâs reported interest in the French star back in 2016, back when KHR was still Bayernâs president, and he detailed the whole story:
âI was personally involved with DembĂ©lĂ©. We, and especially our then director Michael Reschke, were determined to sign him, but unfortunately Dortmund beat us to it. DembĂ©lĂ© was playing for Stade Rennes at the time. The club owners were also the owners of Puma. Dortmund had a kit deal with Puma back then,â Rummenigge explained, as captured by . âSo it was clear that we, as an Adidas-sponsored club, wouldnât necessarily be given priority. He was a wonderful player, but as we saw, he quickly left Dortmund for Barcelona. Heâs undoubtedly a very good player, but he also needs to be managed well.â
DembĂ©lĂ© got his move to Barcelona through throwing a stink, skipping pre-season and demanding an exit. A huge transfer fee will have calmed the Dortmund front office, but the experience nevertheless left a bad taste in a lot of peopleâs mouths. There were then frequent reports that DembĂ©lĂ© would , oversleeping and subsequently showing up late for training. These incidents seem to pain a picture of his character, though it is always worth noting that reports do not always represent the full truth.
Furthermore, the 28-year-old has really come into his own at Paris. His wonderful talent is finally being used to itsâ full extent, he seems to be fully focused on his football and he is a genuinely beautiful player to watch. His Ballon Dâor win did not come out of nowhere, after all.
So the question is: Would he have been able to hit his potential in Munich? Would he have been one of the players to pick up where or left off when they left in 2019? Or would the teething problems have been too much at FC Hollywood?
*If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on , , , or any leading podcast distributorâŠ*
