Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has claimed to have the inside track on how Pep Guardiola signs players at Manchester City .
The Bundesliga champions are preparing for a summer of change. Franck Ribery, who joined the Munich club in 2007, and Arjen Robben, who came in 2009, are expected to leave the club at the end of the season and the president has previously said that a lot will happen in what he called the "second stage of the upheaval".
As he announced more details of the club's plans, Hoeness thought it right to contrast the way Bayern go about making big signings with the way City do .
"My friend Pep told me what happens when he wants a player who costs €100m," he is reported to have said at a financial fair.
"He gets some videos of the player and flies to see the Sheikh [Mansour]. Then there is an opulent meal, you look over the videos and the Sheikh transfers the sum.
"I'm proud that in such cases we aren't going to the credit department but the bank's fixed-income department."
City have, in fact, never signed a player that costs anywhere close to €100m - Riyad Mahrez is their most expensive signing. The club announced profits for the fourth consecutive season back in September, with record revenue of more than £500m and £10.4m of profit.
Bayern, meanwhile, have struggled since Guardiola swapped Munich for Manchester in 2016. The Germans have had three managers in under three seasons, with renewed pressure on the future of Niko Kovac following their tame Champions League last-16 exit to Liverpool and a serious challenge from Borussia Dortmund in the league.
Having served 18 months of a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for evading €28.5m in tax, Hoeness was re-elected as club president of Bayern in November 2016.
