Transfer Speculation

Louis van Gaal's reign as coach of Bayern Munich began with a 40-minute delay today.

The Bayern players emerged from the dressing room at their training facilities to the applause of over 1,000 fans packed in around the perimeter fencing to catch a first glimpse of their heroes at 11.10am, 40 minutes later than the originally scheduled start of pre-season training.

Among the squad were new signings Ivica Olic, Mario Gomez, Alexander Baumjohann, Edson Braafheid, Andreas Gorlitz, Anatoliy Tymoschuk and Daniel Pranjic wearing Bayern shirts for the first time.

Franck Ribery was also present despite the persistent rumours linking him with a move away from the club this summer.

Only Luca Toni and Lucio were absent as they have been given permission to return later after appearing in the Confederations Cup this summer for Italy and Brazil respectively.

Van Gaal will be officially presented at a press conference later today, but he should have made himself well known to the players already after holding them in the dressing room longer than expected this morning.