On 14 July 2013, Thiago signed a four-year deal with Bundesliga club Bayern Munich, for a €25 million fee. Bayern would pay €20 million to Barcelona directly with the remainder being covered by the proceeds of a friendly to be played between the two teams at some point in the following four years and by Thiago foregoing some money owed to him by Barcelona. The transfer came despite a new contract that Barcelona had given Thiago in 2011 which set his release clause at €90 million. Barcelona failed to fulfil clauses in the contract relating to the amount of playing time that Thiago received, and as a result his buy-out clause dropped to €18m. Guardiola had made Thiago a priority signing. Thiago made his Bayern debut in a 4–2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 DFL-Supercup on 27 July. He made his debut in the Bundesliga in a 0–1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt on 11 August 2013.