Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has suggested Franck Ribery should have bounced his golden steak off the wall after his now infamous Instagram post.
The French midfielder posted a picture of himself seemingly about to devour a £1,000 ($1275) steak seasoned with gold leaf during Bayern’s annual winter break.
During January’s trip to Qatar, the 36-year-old made a detour to one of his favourite restaurants in Dubai and promptly ordered the Tomahawk steak at Nusr-Et, run by Turkish butcher and celebrity Nusret Gokce.
The controversial post drew widespread criticism on social media and earned him a fine from Bayern thanks to his expletive-laden response.
However, club president Hoeness has suggested things might have worked out differently had Ribery “slapped” the lavish dish off the wall.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the Bonn Academy for Research and Education, he said: “I’ve just listened to the story, that was fake news, Franck was abused there.
“The only mistake was that the steak did not hit the wall. He did not even eat the steak, he should have slapped it against the wall and everything would have been fine.”
In addition, the president also addressed the apparent commercialisation of football and the problem of ever-increasing fees within the sport.
Bayern broke their transfer record earlier this year when they signed French defender Lucas Hernandez for €80 million (£68m/$90m) from Atletico Madrid.
It has also been suggested that the current German champions are in talks to secure the signature of Leroy Sane from Manchester City this summer.
“I have a lot of thoughts,” he said, “but I do not have the approach of a solution on how to be at the top without commercialisation.
“I have great respect for the work of SC Freiburg, but it is clear that they are never going to win the Champions League.
“I do not want to buy a player for €80 or €100 million, but if you want to keep up with Manchester City, Liverpool or Barcelona, then you have to do things I do not like.”
“We brought Hernandez, but the good thing is that we can do that from our deposit account.
“At Bayern, the players earn the most, but this year we’ll make the biggest (financial) win in our history.”
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