This article was originally published on Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing, a subscription service. If you would like to receive Fabrizio Romano’s exclusive articles via email ahead of publication on caughtoffside.com, please sign-up for the service here: thedailybriefing.io
Today’s exclusive transfer round-up from Bundesliga insider Christian Falk, featuring Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Werder Bremen, Arsenal and more
Today’s top stories
- Could Manchester United be handed the perfect opportunity to land Champions League-winning manager?
- Joshua Kimmich… advantage Liverpool or Manchester City?
- And further updates on Beier, Davies, Ouédraogo and more!
BAYERN MUNICH
Bayern Munich have completely pulled out of talks for Kieran Trippier of Newcastle United. On Wednesday, Bayern’s sporting director, Christoph Freund, confirmed as much, despite having reached an agreement with the player after initial talks the prior Friday. On Saturday, the talks with Newcastle started and Bayern were looking for a loan. Newcastle, of course, amid their struggles with Financial Fair Play were looking to make a sale, so, at the end on Tuesday, Bayern came up with a €15m offer, which was much more than what they wanted to spend. Newcastle said no and I can understand why, as €15m is not so much for a key player from an English club.
I heard Trippier also demanded a €10m-a-year salary. The package then for a 33-year-old player was too high for Bayern Munich, so they decided to move away from Trippier. It’s not clear, as things currently stand, whether they’ll make another pass at Nordi Mukiele because the situation is quite similar. He’s much younger of course but, at the end, they also want him on a loan deal and PSG only want to comply if there’s a buy option included. Bayern officials are aware that they’re approaching the end of January and Noussair Mazraoui and Kim Min-jae (at the AFCON and Asian Cup respectively) are potentially set to return in the near future, so the question of why they should spend a lot of money for new players has been posed. The new head of sport, Max Eberl, will begin his job in March (latest on April 1). So, he has to decide then what direction Bayern goes in. They’re still looking, though it’s possible they won’t do any business at right-back.
Joshua Zirkzee – who is attracting interest from Arsenal and Tottenham – is already in talks with United, and Bayern are curious to see if Bologna are interested in selling him to any English club. Bayern have a clause that would allow them to get 50% of any transfer fee agreed.
Leon Goretzka is still fighting for his position in Bayern’s team. They don’t want to sell him and he didn’t want to go last summer. But now he’s encountering a lot of difficulties when it comes to earning a spot in Thomas Tuchel’s first-team. When asked, he says he has no other plans and wants to play his football in Munich, but in the background, there are rumours that he is now more open-minded in terms of a change than he was in the summer. In the past, there was interest from Manchester United and what we heard is that in the back of Goretzka’s mind, he’s thinking about this option if his current circumstances won’t change. Tuchel always sees Raphael Guerreiro as being ahead of him, which Goretzka really isn’t happy about!
There is a player in Bayern’s squad, Frans Krätzig – a German player in the youth team – who can play left-back very well. Standard Liège tried to get him on loan this winter but both sides refused. Bayern also needs him as a substitute for Davies in future. I heard also Premier League clubs are watching this big talent, so we have to keep our eye on him!
Bayern Munich lost a lot of coaches very early in the past, which isn’t normal for the club! They’re trying to keep hold of Thomas Tuchel and push for success but in the end you have to see that the only title he won last year out of three when he started was the German title and this was a present from Dortmund – Bayern didn’t necessarily earn it themselves! This year he’s also second and he also saw Bayern get knocked out of the DFB Pokal, so if he doesn’t bring one title, he will be the first coach in the last 12 years to not win something. This could be the end of Tuchel at Bayern Munich. The bosses at Bayern are also always irritated by his interviews when he talks about the squad not being strong enough or him not knowing what to do now despite players not matching their strong training performances with their performances in the games. The crazy thing is, one year ago, Julian Nagelsmann had similar thoughts and he told the bosses – at this point they changed their mind and that was the beginning of the end of Nagelsmann.
There was an interview he gave where he mentioned that he had a lot more respect during his time in England compared to Germany. Naturally, this wasn’t so good when the bosses in Germany heard this as they felt they gave him all the tools to succeed, including Harry Kane and a really expensive squad and they’re not seeing any development. On the other hand, he’s saying he’s confident but we know in the back of his mind he’s always thinking about England. He was always keen on the job at Manchester United and you see that Erik ten Hag is not so settled at the moment. If Ten Hag lost his job in the summer and the crisis at Bayern Munich is still ongoing, this could be a good situation for everyone.
Marco Neppe was important in the past for Bayern Munich; he was the right-hand man of Hasan Salihamidžić. In the prior summer window, his importance remained as he was the only man who knew about the contract situations at the club when the new bosses made the transfers. So he was onboard when Jan-Christian Dreesen was engaging in talks with Daniel Levy over Harry Kane. So you see how important he was. However, since Freund came in, things have changed. In the transfer window, Neppe was on holiday whilst Freund was handling the transfer front. On Monday he had talks with the CEO, Dreesen, and it became clear it doesn’t make sense for him to remain for the future. He wants a new challenge, so he’s leaving when Max Eberl will be coming. I’m not sure where we’ll see him go next. He came from Leverkusen and will have interested suitors. There were rumours that Tottenham have an eye on him, so perhaps this could happen now that he’s on the market.
ARSENAL
Martin Zubimendi is the No.1 target for Bayern in front of Joao Palhinha. He has a release clause of €60m, which is why he’s so interesting. Bayern Munich are pushing for him and it’s also interesting that Xabi Alonso is with the same agency. Bayern executives are watching him closely as a potential coach for the Bavarian outfit. Bayern also heard that Mikel Arteta is already talking to the player. They’re both Spanish as well, which is a big advantage for Arsenal! Bayern were very sure that they would lead the race for Zubimendi but now that Arsenal are there, they’re afraid of the Gunners and afraid that Mikel Arteta could take this player away, which had been a planned move for the summer.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN
Borja Iglesias will come on loan. If he is there, he is the substitute for the injured Victor Boniface. They won’t sign two strikers in the current window as they still have Patrik Schick who is already doing very well at the moment. So I don’t currently think a move for Moises Keane will happen.
BORUSSIA DORTMUND
Nottingham Forest are one of the clubs who are interested in Giovanni Reyna. Marseille are also in the race. What I have heard is that the offers Dortmund have received thus far are not good enough. So they told Reyna that he has to bring better offers. They want to wait until the end of the end of the winter transfer window. I heard there’s yet to be a new offer at the moment.
It’s true that Dortmund are watching Désiré Doué (18). However, in the current window, they don’t want to act just yet. Reyna is yet to leave so they don’t need a substitute for him just yet. As things currently stand, Dortmund are unlikely to do any business this winter.
FRANKFURT
After Sasa Kalajdzic (loan from Wolverhampton), Donny van de Beek (loan from Manchester United), Jean-Matteo Bahoya (for 8 million from Angers) and Aurele Amenda (coming from Bern at the latest in the summer for 8.5 million), the next new one is supposed to come in the form of PSG Striker Hugo Ekitiké (21)! Eintracht made the first official offer to PSG on Thursday. Frankfurt envisions a loan until the summer and a subsequent purchase option worth around €15m. But Paris refused and is probably demanding over €20m.
GLADBACH
No offers yet for Florian Neuhaus – nothing concrete. The player would be open to a Premier League move, but neither West Ham nor Aston Villa have knocked on the door of Gladbach or Neuhaus. As things stand, the midfielder would be more likely to join a Bundesliga club instead of moving to England and a few German outfits are interested.
HOFFENHEIM
There’s still very concrete interest from Brentford in Maximilian Beier. I heard they asked if he wanted to move in the current window. They were open to spending €30m on him but he doesn’t want to go just yet as he’s aware he’s being watched by many Premier League clubs including Burnley, Everton and Liverpool. He wants to see what will happen in the summer.
At the moment, the release clause that he has in his contract isn’t active in the winter – just for the summer, at which point it will be €32.5m. Not far away from €30m! Every year he stays at Hoffenheim it goes down by €2.5m, so it’s getting cheaper and Beier knows he has many chances for the next step but he doesn’t want to make it this winter.
LIVERPOOL
I’ve heard that Jurgen Klopp is now in the race for Joshua Kimmich. There’s the German connection to consider – Klopp and Jorg Schmadtke – which always helps! They will need a player as Thiago Alcantara’s injury struggles have kept him out of the squad and his contract is running out, plus there was Jordan Henderson’s exit last summer, so there is a place in the squad for him. A little problem, of course, is that Pep Guardiola also has an eye on Kimmich. He developed Kimmich, brought him in the team and made him into a professional. There’s also a big connection there.
Bayern Munich are now in a situation where they’re willing to talk about this, as Kimmich also has an idea in his head of leaving in the last year of his contract without signing a new one – a situation Bayern would like to avoid as they’d end up losing a lot of money. Bayern would like to have €50m for Kimmich. They know this could be hard to get with just one year left on his contract come the summer. On the other hand, he’s a very good player and English clubs have a lot of money. If Bayern don’t get Kimmich on a new contract, they have to sell him. If Liverpool and Manchester City decide not to move for him this summer, then Bayern still have a problem on their hands as Kimmich continues to have Xavi on the mind – whom he continues to look up to – and the feeling’s very mutual for the Barcelona coach who would love to sign him in 2025 when he’s a free agent and the Catalan giants also then have a chance to land him.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting wants to remain at Bayern at the moment. There is no concrete offer from Manchester United currently. His idea is to spend the last six months of his contract in Munich as he’s earning quite well at Bayern (I heard about €10m-a-year). Then he could go to Saudi Arabia in the summer when he’s a free agent. United must do something crazy to get him.
REAL MADRID
An offer of a player and fee for Alphonso Davies could be one idea of Real Madrid’s but at the moment Bayern Munich are not interested in such a swap deal. At the end, there are still problems with the contract talks with Davies. I talked to Christoph Freund and they are indeed trying but I heard that three months ago the player’s agent showed Bayern what he wants his client to earn and this is up to €14m-a-year. Bayern didn’t react to this offer until now and they don’t want to give him so much money whilst he’s not playing particularly well. Against Union Berlin he was already sitting on the bench. So perhaps they can inspire a bit of pressure and show him that his performances are not €40m-a-year performances. But, there is still Real Madrid in the background and they are pushing.
SCHALKE
Assan Ouédraogo’s father has a key role in this transfer saga. What I have heard is that the family is thinking a step into another league like the Premier League would be a step too much for him. He’s a very young player. The same goes for Bayern or Liverpool. At the moment it seems like RB Leipzig is leading the race and he wants to stay in the Bundesliga if he is going to leave Schalke. At the moment, he has a little injury, so it’s not really a transfer that’s hot for the current window, more for the future. I think he would love to stay at Schalke but it could be that he’s forced to go because of the amount of interest in him.
WERDER BREMEN
Werder Bremen made an offer of a loan deal for Skelly Alvero until the summer but it’s not decided yet if Lyon want to do it. Werder Bremen hope they will agree to it but we have to wait on further updates.