The Bayern Munich legend used an Interwetten sponsor event this week to drag the subject of Olise’s salary into the open. The pitch is unusually specific: a two-to-three-year extension, roughly €10m more a year, and a funding plan that leaves the club better off.
Matthäus reached for Diego Maradona to defend the player.
“Diego Maradona couldn’t be stopped by fair means either,” he told reporters, framing the comparison around the way opponents resort to fouls when they cannot stop a player by football alone. He was clear he was not equating careers, only the treatment both have had to absorb.
The Neuer math
Matthäus’s proposal rests on a single moving part: Manuel Neuer’s contract, which is set to expire next summer.
Read also: Ten Hag breaks silence on explosive Ronaldo feud: ‘He let me down and told players to coast’
“I would extend his contract immediately by two or three years and give him a few million more,” Matthäus said of Olise.
“Manuel Neuer will probably be gone next year, so Bayern will save €20 million in wages. You can give half of that to Olise and still save €10 million.”
That is the whole blueprint. Half of Neuer’s departing €20m salary covers the raise; the other half stays with the club. Olise currently earns around €14m a year, according to figures cited at the same event, so the proposed increase would push him close to €24m, into the top bracket of Bayern earners alongside Harry Kane.
Matthäus went further on the player’s real worth, pointing out that Olise’s market value has risen three-and-a-half to four times over since he joined from Crystal Palace, and that a proportional salary would land somewhere between €45m and €47m a year. He did not pretend Bayern would ever pay that.
Read also: Jorge Jesus now holds Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal future in his hands after disciplinary ruling
Why he wants it done now
Olise’s deal runs to 2029 and he is in no rush to renegotiate. Bayern are. The club has already prepared an improved offer worth around €25m a year plus bonuses, with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain tracking the 24-year-old.
Matthäus argued the length of a new deal matters even if Olise leaves before it ends. “Even if he doesn’t see out the contract, Bayern will at least get a high transfer fee,” he said. “Because the longer the contract runs, the more I can get in transfer fees.”
The Stavanger backdrop
The timing is awkward. Olise was sent off a week ago in Bayern’s 3-3 Champions League draw at Viking Stavanger, picking up two yellow cards inside a minute after throwing the ball into the face of Viking captain Zlatko Tripic. He will miss Wednesday’s home tie against Arsenal.
Head coach Vincent Kompany called the dismissal “incredibly stupid”. Matthäus took the opposite view, pointing to Olise’s calm reaction to a flurry of hard challenges in Bayern’s next league match as proof the lesson had landed.
Olise has nine goals and five assists in ten competitive appearances this season. He will watch Wednesday’s Arsenal tie at the Allianz Arena from the stands.
Read also: Mbappé beats Yamal and Kane to prestigious award just six days before Ballon d’Or ceremony
