Boosted by the hiring of Gomez, Ukraine midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk (from Zenit St Petersburg) and Croatians Danijel Pranjic and Ivica Olic, van Gaal will hope to hit the ground running.

'We want to play attractive football as soon as possible,' said van Gaal.

Uli Hoeness, in his final months as general manager before he steps down after 30 years in the job in December, is upbeat that Munich will lift trophies again.

'I am convinced that we are looking ahead at good times,' he said.

The action starts when Wolfsburg host Veh's former team VfB Stuttgart in the curtain-raiser.

The freshly crowned German Footballer of the Year Grafite and Edin Dzeko have renewed their contracts and the hiring of forward Obafemi Martins and midfielders Karim Ziani and Thomas Kahlenberg for some 20 million euros gives the Volkswagen-sponsored club more depth.

'I am looking forward to the Bundesliga and the Champions League. We have high expectations at Wolfsburg,' said Dzeko.

Elsewhere, Stuttgart have reinvested part of the Gomez income on Russia forward Pavel Pogrebnyak (11 million euros) and the return of Belarussian Alexander Hleb on loan from Barcelona.

Hamburg have splashed out 20 million euros on Swedish striker talent Marcus Berg and Eljero Elia. Bremen spent 8.5 million euros on midfielder Marko Marin and have Tim Borowski back from Munich after getting 24.5 million euros from Juventus for Brazilian playmaker Diego.

Cologne delighted their fans in bringing Lucas Podolski back from Munich for a club record 10 million euros and hope to stay in the top flight just like the promoted teams of Mainz 05, SC Freiburg and Nuremberg.