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Berlin - Bayern Munich officially opened their new youth academy on Monday which they hope will nurture a new generation of homegrown stars as the "right answer" to escalating transfer fees following Neymar's switch to Paris Saint-Germain.
"I am convinced that we can give the right answer to the development of international football, to the whole transfer madness and the exploding salaries," said Bayern's president Uli Hoeness in a thinly-veiled reference to Neymar's world record move in his speech.
"We see in this campus the chance to generate a lot of success."
The 'FC Bayern Campus' took two years to build at a cost of €70 million - "not even half a Neymar", quipped Munich's mayor Dieter Reiter.
PSG paid Barcelona €222 million for the Brazilian, the cost of his buyout clause. He is reportedly earning €30 million a year in the French capital.
The new facility, near Bayern's Allianz Arena stadium in north Munich, covers 30 hectares, boasts a small stadium plus seven other football pitches, sprint hills, a gym, sports hall, cafeteria and a boarding school which can accommodate 35 youngsters.
The thinking behind the project is simple.
Austria international David Alaba was the last homegrown talent to graduate to the first team in 2010.
So it is hoped the campus will unearth the next Mats Hummels or Thomas Mueller, to star not just for Bayern, but also for Germany.
"A player every year for the first team," is what chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wants to see the campus produce.
