Christian Falk has reported that Manchester City could be the subject of a transfer raid this summer, with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund interested in three players on the Sky Blues’ books.
Barcelona’s pursuit of Ilkay Gundogan has been well-documented, though Pep Guardiola’s outfit may very well need to keep a close eye on the likes of Kyle Walker, Kalvin Phillips and Cole Palmer.
“The first contact with Kyle Walker was indeed from Thomas Tuchel. He had some contact around the matches against Manchester City in April and from there he had the feeling that there is a chance,” the BILD reporter exclusively informed CaughtOffside in his latest Fact Files column.
Bayern Munich are indeed very confident that the chance is good because Walker told them in these talks that he can think about the step to the Bundesliga.
The big thing is that Bayern would offer Walker a longer contract than City. We saw with the Ilkay Gundogan decision that Manchester City are not offering long-term contracts to players over the age of 30. Bayern Munich would do this at the moment. It’s also partly inspired by the ongoing Benjamin Pavard situation – they have to sell him, he’s not changing his mind on this front. So a right-back is needed at Bayern Munich and Walker would be the No.1 solution on the wishlist.
Now, the talks are very concrete and Bayern is confident that they can get him. The offer, as it stands, is a two-year contract with the option of a further year beyond that.
Falk went on to add: “Kalvin Phillips is also on Bayern’s shortlist this summer. The bosses have discussed a transfer but there’s yet to be an offer, as I mentioned in the Bayern Insider Podcast.”
Dortmund, on their end, look potentially set to focus on a younger addition to their squad in the form of Manchester City’s Cole Palmer, befitting of the age profile generally pursued by BVB.
“Dortmund are also keen on a transfer for Manchester City’s Cole Palmer (21), who has a contract running until 2026,” the journalist wrote.
At 33 years of age and with a contract set to expire in a year’s time, one could certainly understand why the Cityzens wouldn’t be entirely reluctant to part ways.
Likewise, with the Bavarians evidently keen on midfield reinforcements (if their interest in West Ham’s Declan Rice is anything to go by), a move for the highly out-of-favour Kalvin Phillips (who registered less than 600 minutes last term) would make a certain amount of sense.