Schalke just finished paying Bayern Munich for Sebastian Rudy’s transfer from 2018

When you play the game of transfers, you win some and you lose some. And sometimes, you really win some. Such is the case for Bayern Munich’s 2017 transfer swoop for Hoffenheim midfielder Sebastian Rudy, whom the German Rekordmeister poached on a free.

Rudy enjoyed one decent season in the Bayern rotation, before getting sold to Schalke 04 for a €16.5m fee. After one year in Schalke, Rudy was sent to Hoffenheim on a loan that was eventually made permanent.

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What’s more, Sport Bild reports (via @iMiaSanMia) that the transfer was paid out in installments — which doesn’t raise the value, but does mean that it imposed some additional fiscal discipline on Bayern’s transfer window business over the last few years. The last of the four €4.125m chunks was “only recently” transferred to Bayern’s coffers — finally concluding the business.

The move worked out alright for Rudy, too, at least initially. He capped off his year in Bayern with a call-up to Joachim Löw’s Germany squad for the FIFA 2018 Men’s World Cup, and earned an admittedly abbreviated start against Sweden. Now, however, the fortunes of his last two teams have converged. Both Schalke and Hoffenheim are fighting to stave off relegation from the Bundesliga. Survival isn’t easy — especially when there isn’t much slack in the budget.