Ancelotti: More to football than buying players
Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti has said that money isn't everything, as player transfer fees continue to rise at an exponential rate.
Recent reports suggested that Real Madrid have agreed a world-record fee of £160m (S$284m) for Monaco's Kylian Mbappe, while Bayern themselves smashed the German Bundesliga record when they prised Corentin Tolisso from Lyon for 41.5m euros (S$65.7 million) last month.
But Ancelotti, speaking ahead of Bayern's game against Inter Milan at the National Stadium tonight, said that spending big does not guarantee titles.
The 58-year-old said: "Many clubs spend a lot of money on players to be more competitive.
"But, I don't think that (buying new players) is the most important thing that can help clubs to win titles.
"Besides that, you also have to build an organisation, build the team and build a style of play - and you can't always build those with money."
The Italian, a three-time Champions League winner, was made Bayern coach last year largely due to his European pedigree.
Under predecessor Pep Guardiola, the Bavarian outfit were knocked out in the semi-finals for three successive seasons.
However, in Ancelotti's first season in charge, Bayern crashed out of the Champions League quarter-finals after losing to Real Madrid in April, although he softened the blow by leading the club to a record-breaking fifth straight Bundesliga title.
When asked if the Champions League would be their priority this season, Ancelotti said: "The goal is the same, to be competitive and win titles - it doesn't change.
"We want to do better compared to last season, in some ways during the Champions League (then) we were not in our top form.
"We have a week's time to prepare for the German Super Cup (against Borussia Dortmund). We might not be at our 100 per cent strength like we were last year, but we have a possibility to win."
On Bayern's 3-2 win over Chelsea in the Singapore leg of the International Champions Cup on Tuesday, he said: "I think we played well yesterday.
"Defensively and offensively, we worked together and we tried to play as a team.
"It didn't seem like Tolisso was new, he is improving really quick and he's done a good job of learning our style of play.
"The game (against Inter Milan) is another important test. We will not be thinking about our physical condition, but we have to focus on quality and concentration."
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