http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3275/bundesliga/2012/02/09/2895271/official-bayern-munich-confirm-signing-of-xherdan-shaqiri

The Switzerland international has signed a four-year deal with Bayern according to the club's official website, but will only join his new club at the end of the current season.

Shaqiri was part of the Basel side which famously helped dump Manchester United out of the Champions League this season.

The Swiss side earned a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford before a 2-1 win at St Jakob-Park on the final matchday proved decisive in Group C.

The Bavarians had long been in the market for attacking reinforcements, and were previously believed to be interested in signing Borussia Monchengladbach star Marco Reus.

However, they turned their attention to Shaqiri after Reus made the decision to join Borussia Dortmund at the end of the 2011-12 campaign.

The 20-year-old Shaqiri travelled to Germany earlier this week to undergo his medical, and the winger has now signed a deal until June 2016.

"We are very pleased that we have managed to sign one of the most sought after youngsters around in Europe in Xherdan Shaqiri," commented Bayern sporting director Christian Nerlinger.

Shaqiri is a product of the Basel youth academy, and had developed into a key player at the Swiss outfit since making his official debut in July 2009.

The winger will get the chance to play against his new team when both sides meet in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie on February 22.


Congratulations Bayern, i think they made a great investment to be honest... Shaqiri>Hazard and Gotze... no doubt in my mind about it..

I'm a huge Shaqiri fan but Hazard or Goetze >>>> Shaqiri.

would be amazing if he helps basel dump out bayern. not that itll happen but still

Could happen, Bayern are hit-and-miss these days and Piggy is out again.

Really really a good choice from both parties.

Shaqiri at Bayern sounds like a good move.

robben better get comfortable on the bench, imo this lads all class

Any decent vids of Shaqiri out there people already know, or do I just hammer his name into YouTube and hope for the best?

Not the biggest fan, but we will see I guess.

Not sure what or anything he could possibly add to Bayern.

VivaStPauli wrote:Any decent vids of Shaqiri out there people already know, or do I just hammer his name into YouTube and hope for the best?

the goal he scored against england should be enough :vagi:

Crimson wrote:Not the biggest fan, but we will see I guess.

Not sure what or anything he could possibly add to Bayern.

exactly, they have the two best wingers in the world already in ribery and robben.

Well one of those two best wingers is always injured, so it makes sense to at least have a 3rd world class winger.

It's a smart signing, they rely on wingers so it makes sense for them to have a reliable 3rd winger they can count on specially when their starters are often out with injuries and going in towards their 30s.

Even utd works with Young, Valencia and Nani and Giggs occasionally.

Congrats to all Bayern fans...lucky YoU.............what a player ,wowww his long range shoots are just CLASSY well like every PurE AlBanIaN 4sure trololoool

VivaStPauli wrote:Any decent vids of Shaqiri out there people already know, or do I just hammer his name into YouTube and hope for the best?

Wait for Basel vs Bayern, then you can admire him properly in action right away.

boss wrote:Congrats to all Bayern fans...lucky YoU.............what a player ,wowww his long range shoots are just CLASSY well like every PurE AlBanIaN 4sure trololoool

Love how you support Bayern now

Viva, think of him as a mini-Robben. He loves cutting in and shooting, but also has great technical abilities and very decent passing. He's also built like a tank and doesn't seem to be injury prone or anything.

Bayern definitely needed this signing, because our bench is paper thin. An injury to Ribéry would be catastrophic because we don't have a natural winger on the bench. Pranjic but he's meh. Our lack of depth is often covered by the versatility of our players. Kroos can play CM or AM or wing, Müller can play anywhere on the front line, Alaba can play wing, CM, leftback etc.

Come June, we might lose Olic, Pranjic, Breno and Tymo as free agents, so it's a very smart move, IMO.

Bayern is now officially the best wing club in the world....

Robben
Ribery
Shaqiri
Muller
Kroos
Alaba
Olic
Pranjic
Schweinsteiger(looooooooooool) we almost forgot..
Rafinha...

What's so great about Alaba, Olic, and Pranjic, besides them being decent bench players and Olic being hardworking as hell? :/

Olic's great when in shape.

Alaba is a very talented youngster. I can see him replacing Schweini with the years.

Pranjic... yeah, he's meh, but he's going anyways.

Alaba and Olic aren't naturally wing players, though...

i am an olic fan from his 2010 performances in the ucl

VivaStPauli wrote:What's so great about Alaba, Olic, and Pranjic, besides them being decent bench players and Olic being hardworking as hell? :/

It's not about Alaba, Olic and Pranjic being great, it's the amount of players we have available in the wing position...

2 world-class wingers, Ribery and Robben.

4 Talented wingers, Muller, Shaqiri, Alaba and Kroos.

Olic and Pranjic are good cover and to be honest Alaba is a very talented player unless of course if you dont watch him. Pranjic also is a very good player and held his ground in his first season at Bayern, Olic has not been given to chance to prove himself otherwise all this players are all good players

I still believe if Given the chance Olic can give Gomez a run for his money and could possibly bench him....Alaba I personally believe he will develop to become better than Muller...

I always wanted SHAQ instead of Reus.
and I hated Reus more and more when he joined Dortmund.

At last, a good deal! and FC Bayern fans are very satisfied now.

He's much better than overrated (and overpriced Hazard).
I'm so glad we didn't went for the overrated, and signed the talented.

On paper looks like a very nice signing.

Good luck to him.