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Bayern sticking with Thomas Tuchel for now
It’s been a difficult season at Bayern, and particularly in the last few days as they suffered a third defeat in a row last night, losing 3-2 against Bochum.
Still, at the moment, Bayern’s position is clear: they plan to continue with Thomas Tuchel as manager. Let’s see how the conversations will continue, but this is the tendency at the club following internal talks.
In my opinion there are multiple problems for Bayern this season, not only the manager. For instance, a new midfielder signing was needed in January – Joao Palhinha from Fulham would have been perfect and then they did not sign another player in that position.
Tuchel has spoken publicly to state his belief that he and his coaching staff can turn this around, so let’s see what happens, but for now Bayern will not be making a change and the plan is to stick with Tuchel.
Important days ahead in the Kylian Mbappe saga
We are entering into really important days for the Kylian Mbappe saga. We already know that he has communicated to Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi that he would be leaving, and as I always said, the PSG chief was going to be the first person to know.
Mbappe has also communicated to his teammates before a training session that he would be leaving the club, but he hasn’t mentioned a future club yet. From what I’m hearing, in both the Real Madrid and PSG dressing rooms, the feeling is clear: Mbappe is joining Real Madrid this summer after a long saga.
We know the feeling is strong in the Real Madrid board as well – they believe they now have it all set to happen. In January, they sent a formal contract proposal to Mbappe, to his mother, to his camp, to his lawyers, and obviously the player himself. Now they have to proceed with the signing stage – this is the crucial moment.
Let me clarify again that the salary of Mbappe at Real Madrid will be much lower than the one proposed in 2022, and also the signing-on fee is going to be lower. It’s still a big amount of money, but it’s not the same.
In the last 24 hours, Mbappe told Al-Khelaifi that he doesn’t want any new offer from PSG, he considers this story over. He doesn’t want a new contract, he doesn’t want to consider any other proposal, because he’s leaving – it’s decided. The message has been very clear from Mbappe to PSG, and he’s not going to change his mind, so PSG are also looking to the future and not working on a new Mbappe contract.
I’m told that Mbappe and Florentino Perez share a very good relationship. Back in May 2022, Mbappe called Perez directly to communicate that he was going to turn down their proposal and sign a new contract at PSG. It was a big shock to world football, and to Perez, who was waiting for the green light.
Usually in this situation it is people from the player’s camp, a family member, or maybe intermediaries, but Mbappe called Perez directly to say sorry about what happened, and that he’d decided to stay at PSG. Perez was not happy with the situation, but appreciated that classy act from the player, and people close to him started thinking it was not over for the future. Perez is now involved in the Mbappe saga and making crucial steps to arrive at the signing stage.
The relationship between Mbappe and Perez is really important, and now the feeling of the entire industry is that Mbappe to Real Madrid is now at the final stages.
PSG wanted Bernardo Silva last summer, so will they go for him again?
As I said above, PSG are now set to plan for the future without Mbappe, but it’s not yet clear precisely what that will look like, even if there will inevitably be plenty of rumours and links with big names.
Bernardo Silva of Manchester City is one name we’ve certainly seen linked with PSG a lot, and it’s normal because he’s a fantastic player. We also know that PSG and Barcelona wanted Bernardo last summer. Still, in the end Man City decided to offer him new deal as he’s crucial for Pep Guardiola.
As I wrote here two days ago, PSG have not decided yet the top top targets for the summer; Bernardo remains appreciated but it’s still early to say if they’re going to go strong for the Portuguese playmaker again or if they will have different priorities this time.
Liverpool very happy with Darwin Nunez improvement
Darwin Nunez scored again for Liverpool at the weekend, putting away a beautifully-executed lob in the win over Brentford, and he’s really starting to show his best form for the Reds after a difficult start.
I personally feel that Nunez deserves credit because he was at times heavily criticised by some fans and pundits, but I think it’s been absolutely a normal process. He’s a young guy, it takes time to adapt to new life, new city, new club… it’s absolutely ‘human’ to take some time for that. Nunez is a great striker but still has big potential to improve.
Liverpool are very happy with his recent improvement and he’s doing great. If he carries on playing like this I’m sure he can be one of the key players in this season’s title race.
In other news…
Pedro Neto – Despite what Wolves manager Gary O’Neil said, I think it’s going to be very difficult to keep Pedro Neto at Wolves next summer, this is my feeling. He’s appreciated by many clubs, he could stay in Premier League but move to top, top club in the summer.
Kobbie Mainoo – This talented Manchester United youngster continues to impress, and it’s worth noting that it was never possible for him to be considered as someone to go out on loan. Man United always wanted to involve Kobbie with the first-team rather than sending him out on loan – it was crucial for Man United to make him feel important since day one.
Alexander Isak – Despite stories about Chelsea interest and Newcastle needing to sell because of FFP, I honestly have nothing to report about Alexander Isak at this stage. No contacts, no talks, very quiet situation. So it would be a guess job from me, as I don’t have any information on Isak for the summer so far. It’s still early, so let’s see.