SINGAPORE — The first edition of the International Champions Cup (‘ICC’) in Singapore has seen three famous European clubs in pre-season round-robin action as Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Inter Milan square off. However, while all three clubs are big names in European football, their recent pasts and the way they have gone about conducting their transfer businesses indicate very different mindsets with regards to their footballing ambitions for the season and perhaps the next few years ahead.

While we can never read too much into the results and performances in pre-season friendlies – especially when the matches are only separated by two days for some teams – we can definitely tell a lot about their aspirations by the players on show in Singapore for the three teams, and the recent trajectories they have found themselves on.

While all three are big names, only Bayern Munich can lay claim to being the undisputed kings of their homeland, with 27 national titles, 18 national cups and five Champions League/European Cup wins among their triumphs.

However, their real glory days only began in the 1970s: in fact, they were actually not selected to be in the original Bundesliga when it was formed in 1963, as the German Football Association (DFB) didn’t want two teams from one city and 1860 Munich were the reigning champions of the predecessor league.

The club rose to prominence around the trio of stars known as ‘the axis’ – Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and Sepp Maier; they were later followed in success by the team known as ‘FC Breitnigge’ with Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge before a brief dip by Bayern’s standards in the 1990s was followed by a revival after 1998 that has largely continued to this day and looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have really only been a power in English and European football for around 20 years now.

With the exception of their title-winning side of 1955, their glory years consisted of a brief 6-year period of success in the cups between 1965-1971.

The 1970s and 1980s were dark days for the club with their fans often associated with racism and hooliganism and the team being relegated several times.

With ongoing turmoil over their stadium and mounting debts, the team somehow managed to enjoy some success in the late-1990s – enough to attract Roman Abramovich to buy out the club in 2003 and fund their most successful era of their history since.

With two titles in the last three seasons, it could be argued that they are the ‘form’ domestic team in English football currently and they are still the last English team to win the Champions League.

Their investment this summer suggests they are ready to mount a firm defence of their title and challenge on the European front again.

Inter Milan also have a storied history, winning 18 league titles.

Indeed, their most successful period was in recent history in 2006-2010 where they won five consecutive Serie A titles and capped 2010 with their third Champions League/European Cup in their history.

However, since then they have slumped – failing to finish in the top three in Serie A since 2010-2011 and not even qualifying for Europe in some of those seasons – while watching Juventus march to an unprecedented six straight titles in response.

With Massimo Moratti selling out as owner to an Indonesian consortium in 2013, the club has suffered from instability: a further sale in 2016 to a Chinese investor in Suning Holdings Group, owned by Zhang Jindong, has not helped stop the rot and while there is a sense that the club is turning around again, it will not happen quickly.

DIFFERENT LEVELS OF AMBITION

This recent history for each team is reflected in the different levels of ambition and optimism that each brings to the new season.

While Chelsea and Bayern have both done expensive business to try to defend their titles, Inter Milan have barely registered in the transfer market.

There are rumours that the club has a big transfer kitty to spend – yet also rumours that Luciano Spalletti is frustrated by a lack of activity.

Signings like Milan Skriniar, Facundo Colidio and Borja Valero will hardly set the pulses racing for their fans when set against the transfer business of their ICC rivals as their opponents field new players like Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko, James Rodriguez, Kingsley Coman, Antonio Rudiger and Corentin Tolisso.

In part, this is due to the financial circumstances of the different leagues.

The Premier League clubs enjoy huge windfalls from TV revenues and Bayern’s status in Germany offers unrivalled marketing potential, while Inter does not have access to either.

Indeed, their 2015/2016 turnover of US$199 million (S$236 million) pales into comparison with Chelsea’s turnover of US$497 million and Bayern’s US$657 million – and Chelsea’s income will continue to grow as they build their new stadium in the years to come.

SO WHAT’S NEXT FOR THESE TEAMS?

For Chelsea, the big question is whether they can defend their title while competing on the European front: there is a feeling that they benefited from a lack of European football last season, allowing them to keep a consistent line-up of less fatigued players and increased preparation time from match to match in the Premier League.

Question marks still exist around the exits of one or two players, particularly Diego Costa, but while we cannot rule out any new signings, with a new spine of Rudiger-Bakayoko-Morata added into a title-winning line-up that already includes the talents of Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, David Luiz, N’Golo Kante, Pedro, Willian and Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea fans would not be upset if the transfer window closed tomorrow.

If they can keep Antonio Conte at the club for two to three seasons and hold onto Kante and Hazard in particular, they are well-positioned for trophies in the years to come.

For Bayern, the German title should be the minimum expectation – if you had to bet your house on one team to win their domestic league as it stands, they would probably be the one you would pick.

However, they are determined to regain their European crown and that will be their focus for their incoming season: Carlo Ancelotti surely will need to progress further than last year’s quarter-final stage to remain in favour – and they can’t rely on an easy win against Arsenal this year to help their progress.

For Inter Milan, it seems almost impossible for them to mount any kind of challenge this season and they face a struggle to hold onto some of their remaining stars with Premier League clubs sniffing around Ivan Perisic, while Mauro Icardi is always in demand.

While they are fifth favourites for the Scudetto according to the bookmakers, it is hard to look past a strengthened Juventus squad who are seeking their seventh straight title and for Inter, even Champions League qualification will be a battle with Napoli, Roma, AC Milan – whose Asian owners have finally started to deliver on their promise to invest in the team.

Hopefully this is the start of the upturn for Inter and a challenge for a Champions League spot this season will lead to a title challenge in two to three years with stability in the ownership.

Of course, pre-season friendlies are notoriously unreliable for gauging the progress of teams as first-teamers are rested, new signings bed in, youngsters are tested and the whole game is played at a lesser intensity.

In a one-off match in this context, a lot depend on the attitude of the team towards each match and the personnel they choose to use while managing a heavy workload of games as the season approaches.

For Singapore fans, the chance to see the stars of three of Europe’s biggest clubs in the flesh, even in a pre-season tournament, is exciting enough and gives a nice taste of the exciting European seasons to come.

It will also be a great start to the four-year contract to host the South-east Asia ICC and whet the appetite of the big names that will grace the National Stadium in the years to come.

About the author:

James Walton is Sports Business Group Leader at Deloitte Southeast Asia

THE MONEY GAME: HOW THE THREE CLUBS MEASURE UP AGAINST ONE ANOTHER

Chelsea

Value as at April 2017: US$1.85 billion

Turnover (2015/2016): US$ 497 million

Stadium capacity: 41,631

League titles: 6

Champions League/European Cup: 1

Record transfer fee paid: Alvaro Morata, £55 million (2017/2018)

Summer 2017 spending: £119 million

Bayern Munich

Value as at April 2017: US$2.71 billion

Turnover (2015/2016): US$657 million

Stadium capacity: 75,000

League titles: 27

Champions League/European Cups: 5

Record transfer fee paid: Corentin Tolisso, €41.5 million (2017/2018)

Summer 2017 spending: €100.5 million*

*Includes loan fee for James Rodriguez

Inter Milan

Value as at April 2017: USD$0.54 billion

Turnover (2015/2016): US$199 million

Stadium capacity: 80,018

League titles: 18

Champions League/European Cups: 3

Record transfer fee paid: Christian Vieri, €46.48mn (1999/2000)

Summer 2017 spending: €34.5 million