As a manager of a middle-class Bundesliga club, one can ask the question: Is this still the same sport?
Even Julian Nagelsmann is wondering what that actually means when clubs like Paris Saint-Germain or the Big Spender from England just let the millions bubble as if there was no tomorrow - and also no pandemic, which was once said to be it could mean the end of some excesses.
From a global perspective, the pandemic is no equalizer, even if everyone is affected by it, rather it contributes to inequalities becoming even greater.
And so even the German industry leader worries that the gap to the international top is growing to the same extent as the queues in front of the PSG shops, where fans can hardly wait to spend 165 euros on Lionel Messi's jersey.
The greatest luxury that the Bundesliga affords is its comparatively conservative business and competitive model.
Before this 59th season, that meant that one looked in vain for big names among the entrants, not even FC Bayern invested appropriately in stars, although of course 42.5 million for Dayot Upamecano is a proud sum.
The real king's task
But not only the budgets have become tighter, it seems that spending has also been prioritized differently this time: the star is the trainer. At least that should be the wish of the many clubs that have set a rotation on the benches in motion that the league has not yet seen. Finding the executive who gets the most out of the respective possibilities is the real king's task, and it is good for the league as a whole that it is increasingly understood as such.
What emerges from this in individual cases is the big tension driver for the new season, especially at the top. Nagelsmann is the most talented of the up-and-coming German coaches, and the move to Bayern is an almost logical consequence of his career so far. But he, too, first has to win over a team of this caliber, challenge it, but not overwhelm it, find a flair for the right approach - all that his predecessor Hansi Flick has a natural gift for, which paved the way for him to seven titles .
Advantage Dortmund and Leipzig? Not necessarily. At Borussia, the image of the dream coach Marco Rose got a few scratches before he even started, and at RB Jesse Marsch not only has to be a good football teacher, but also embody a special authority in the club so that the players believe in title goals and don't see Saxony as your personal stepping stone first. Whereby: That would fit in with a league that is increasingly becoming a training league - even if it does get exciting again in the end.