Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness says the Bundesliga champions are in the business of buying young players to strengthen the side, possibly indicating Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez is not in the club's summer plans. "You can't build a new team with €100 million transfers for 29- and 30-year-olds," he told kicker.
Bayern have made four signings so far this summer, adding midfielder Corentin Tolisso from Lyon, former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry from Werder Bremen and Niklas Sule and Sebastian Rudy from Hoffenheim.
Chile international Sanchez has been a reported target of the club, but Hoeness suggested the 28-year-old forward does not fit the the club's transfer profile.
"I fully support what's been done so far -- it's highly satisfactory and it all makes sense. Sule, Rudy, Gnabry and Tolisso are players with huge potential for the future," Hoeness said. "As chairman of the supervisory board I'm very pleased with our transfer policy up till now, because it was implemented with great care.
"Real Madrid deservedly won the Champions League last season, but against which opponent was this team under severe pressure? Against us. After 90 minutes and going into extra time we were leading 2-1 in the Bernabeu."
Hoeness added that trying to buy their way to a Champions League title would be a costly endeavour for Bayern, with no guarantees the squad would even win the competition.
"I said that if we wanted to strengthen this team then we had to buy the very best players. And to get them is difficult enough. In no way was I saying we would do this," he said.
"I only wanted to point out that we have a very good team and if you want to strengthen, you have to spend a huge amount of money and you still don't have any guarantee of winning the Champions League. If we wanted to buy our way to the Champions League title, we would have to throw a lot of money at it. I don't think anything at all of alibi signings, we've spoken about this internally.
"Everyone is talking about building a new team and how Bayern Munich's future must be shaped.
"And then Bayern does exactly that -- signs young players between 20 and 22 and is criticised once again. But you can't build a new team with €100 million transfers for 29- and 30-year-olds. That isn't a policy. Either we go down this road with all these young players, all getting a chance to play, or we don't go down this road."
Last summer, Bayern bought Portugal teenager Renato Sanches, who showed great potential at Euro 2016. However, the 19-year-old failed to impress at the Allianz Arena in his first season, playing in just 17 Bundesliga matches in 2016-17, many of which came as a substitute.
Hoeness has not lost faith in the former Benfica man yet, saying: "I'm in favour of trying things with him for a further year. I'm all for a steady approach. The youngster could never play in three or four games without any pressure. You have to place lots more faith in young players even if we manage to win only the Bundesliga two years in succession and have to watch what happens in Europe.
"However, by doing that we have made the transition and led FC Bayern into the future. But in football it's often the case, everything has to happen a lot faster and without any setbacks."
ESPN FC's Bayern Munich correspondent, Mark Lovell, contributed to this report.