Tag: Germany

Polish striker Robert Lewandowski has once again shut down talks about his future with Bayern Munich.

The 33-year-old will be out of a contract at Bayern Munich at the end of the 2022/23 season and the Bavarians have been trying to get him to extend with them.

All reports coming out of Germany indicate that Lewandowski, who recently was crowned as The Best men’s player for 2022 by FIFA, is stalling the talks for reasons best known to him.

There are no indications that Bayern Munich’s second best goalscorer of all time will sign an extension or even sign with another club, leaving all parties involved in a transfer limbo.

Lewandowski has enjoyed a stellar time at Bayern Munich, where he has played since 2014, scoring 356 games in 328 games for the club. He has broken records held by Bavarian icon Gerd Muller to write his name into the club’s history books, while also winning all the trophies he has competed for with Bayern Munich multiple times.

Also, in his time as Bayern’s chief striker, his footballing stock rose and he is now mentioned in the same breath as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as one of the best players in the world.

Bayern hope that the record breaker can stay longer with them and possibly retire at the club but the striker has previously expressed a desire to experience football outside of Germany, where he has spent all of his professional career since leaving his home country of Poland.

This has led to speculation in the media that Lewandowski is holding off on signing a new contract with Bayern Munich as he is assessing his options. Chelsea are the club who have been mentioned the most as Lewandowski’s potential destination for the past year and half. However, the striker has maintained in his latest statements to the media that he is focused on breaking more records at Bayern and winning more trophies while he is still under contract at the club.

Bayern Munich’s hierarchy are also remaining tight-lipped over the contract negotiations with Lewandowski.

Lewandowski is staying calm and focused on achieving his objectives at Bayern Munich

Lewandowski was asked about his performances and his future after picking up the FIFA Men’s Best Player for 2021 award and he talked about focusing on his task – playing football – taking precedence ahead of every other thing.

“I have to be honest: if you show your performance on the pitch, it doesn’t matter whether you are for team A, B or C. We’re talking about the top European teams. What I’ve shown, what we’ve shown, is among the best,” he said.

“Right now, it’s about staying calm and focused on the matter.

“That’s my top priority, I don’t want to think too much about other things. I’m such an experienced player, I can put everything else aside and focus on my job.”

Lewandowski has scored 23 goals in 19 matches in the Bundesliga and 27 goals in total across all competitions. Last year, he also broke Gerd Muller’s record of most goals in a Bundesliga calendar year. He also matched Cristiano Ronaldo’s best ever goal tally in a year by scoring 69 goals for club and country in 2021, second only to Lionel Messi who has 91.

At 33-years-old, he shows no signs of slowing down and with his statement about remaining focused, he is on course to matching his amazing feats from last year to challenge for the top individual honours again.

Lewandowski also says he can play at the highest level for a while longer, a fact that Bayern understand and will be looking to convince him to sign an extension.

 “I’m still getting to know my body. I know myself very well, of course, but if I see that there is still something to be done, then I will do it,” the striker added.

“If I get asked that question again in two or three years, I can probably say more.”

In a move that many fans have dreaded but expected, Germany has finally imposed COVID restrictions on all sports in the country from December 28. This means that the Bundesliga will be resuming on January 7, 2022, to empty stadiums like in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.

The new restrictions are due to the Omicron variant tearing through all facets of life in Europe, and with that variant of COVID being a hyper-resistant variant of the virus, the German authorities have been forced to take this decision.

It is not clear how long these new restrictions will last, but fans will have to do away with their season tickets for the rest of the season and cheer their clubs from behind various screens.

The Premier League is currently debating postponing their ongoing season to also tackle a surge in cases within clubs and fan bases. Earlier in the week, the board of Premier League chose against postponing the season but Daily Mail reports that this decision did not go down well with quite a few players, captains and club staff.

A call has now been scheduled to explain the reasons for the decision to continue the season to the aggrieved parties with a final decision on the next steps to take to prevent the virus from spreading further.

Games continue to get postponed by the Premier League regardless, piling up the fixtures in the coming weeks for the clubs. Liverpool vs Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Watford are the latest games to be postponed, giving fans who have chosen to spend their Boxing Day holiday cheering their clubs a new headache to deal with.

With respect to the ongoing pandemic, the news from Germany is not all bleak, Vaccination rates are going up among clubs and fans, which could lead to some positive news in the near future.

New Restrictions to hit Bundesliga clubs hard

Explaining the decision, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “I can understand anyone who doesn’t want to hear about the coronavirus, mutations and new virus variants. But we cannot and must not turn a blind eye to this next wave.”

Scholz will meet with Germany’s 16 state governors on January 7, the day the Bundesliga resumes, to review the measures. While the Bundesliga will not be as hit yet because the league is currently on break, club bosses have already cried out about the potential implications of another lockdown on their clubs’ finances.

1. FC Köln managing director, Alexander Wehrle, stated that his club stood to lose €1.8 million for every match played behind closed doors. Bayern Munich officials claim that they will be losing between €4 million to €5 million per home game.

Calciomercato reports that German giants Bayern Munich are exploring the possibility of bringing back former European Golden Boy winner, Renato Sanches, back to the Allianz Arena.

The Portugal international played for the Bavarians from 2016 to 2019 and won six trophies at the club. However, he only made 53 appearances in total because he could not quite fit into the Bavarian’s system at the time despite all of his talents.

He has since found his best form again after moving to the current French champions LOSC Lille for €20 million, even playing a key role in their title-winning 2020/21 season.

His renewed form has seen interest from big clubs in him rekindled, and Bayern Munich are now the latest club to throw their hat in the ring for the 24-year-old.

Interest in Sanches comes from the possibility of Bayern Munich losing a few midfielders in the coming transfer windows. Corentin Tolisso, Marc Roca and Mickael Cuisance are the most likely to leave the club in the coming transfer windows and though Bayern’s executives have claimed that the club will be doing no business in January, they will still need reinforcements for a midfield that could be stretched thin by the end of the season.

Bayern snapped up Sanches from Benfica after his Golden Boy win in 2016, paying €35 million for his services. After sending him on loan to Swansea City and trying to no avail to find a place for him in the squad, they eventually let him go to Lille.

Sanches wasn’t ready for Bayern, says club chief

Bayern Munich’s former CEO, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who sanctioned the deal to bring Sanches to the club, has now come out to admit that he and the club shouldn’t have signed the Portuguese midfielder at the time they signed him, also saying that he would make a better fit for the Bavarians now.

“I think we got him a year or two too early,” Rummenigge said. “But back then we had to sign him. At 18, he was totally hyped in Europe. We paid €35 million, which was a lot of money, he was voted Golden Boy. But somehow the performances weren’t there.

“When Jupp Heynckes came back to replace Carlo Ancelotti, he wanted this player (Sanches). Jupp said, ‘I want this player back (from loan). I want to take this player to the level where he belongs’ — unfortunately, we couldn’t bring him back due to FIFA regulations.

“I think Jupp Heynckes and Renato Sanches would have been an exciting project,” Rummenigge added. “I think with Jupp, Renato might still be playing in Munich today. I watched Lille against Wolfsburg recently and he was one of the best on the pitch, they won partly thanks to him.”

Sanches also agreed in a recent interview that he was not ready for such a big move.

“When I arrived at Bayern, I was not ready to play in such a club. I was very young,” he said. “And when I got ready, the opportunity to play with this team never came.

“Today I feel ready. I understand football better, I have more experience, I know what to do to play in this kind of club and that changes everything.”

Sanches has a gentleman’s agreement with Lille to begin discussions with any clubs who are interested in him. So far, Arsenal, AC Milan and Wolverhampton Wanderers have expressed interest in him, and Bayern are now in the running.

Sanches himself has dropped hints which the interested clubs have looked out for. He told L’Équipe: “Milan and Arsenal are maybe interested, I spoke with my agent about it but I can’t say any more.

“I just know I’m ready. If the offer arrives I’ll evaluate it. Milan are a great club – historic, classy. I really like them.”

Robert Lewandowski has matched Cristiano Ronaldo’s best goal scoring year in the last gameweek of the German Bundesliga in 2021.

The France Football Striker of the year scored the last goal as Bayern cruised to a 4-0 victory over Wolfsburg to score his 69th goal of 2021, matching Cristiano Ronaldo’s 69 goals from 2013 with Real Madrid.

The goal was also Lewandowski’s 19th goal of the current Bundesliga season, a feat achieved in just 17 games. This is also a record in the Bundesliga as no striker has scored this much after just 17 games.

That goal was also the Polish striker’s 43rd German Bundesliga goal in 2021, breaking the record set by German icon GERD Muller almost 50 years ago.

The Bayern Munich front man now has 30 goals in all competitions for the German giants this season, and is only 11 away from 500 goals in club football, after achieving a career total for both club and country of 500 in January 2021.

Wolfsburg will currently be rueing their luck as Lewandowski has made them his favourite opponents. That goal was his 24th in 21 matches against the club.

Bayern Munich rule themselves out of January transfer window

Bayern Munich have officially ruled themselves out of any business in the January transfer window.

Speaking to the media before the Wolfsburg game, Bayern Munich sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic confirmed that the club would not be signing any new players in the upcoming winter transfer window.

“It’s not a topic for us at all,” Salihamidzic told broadcaster DAZN before the match. “We are really well-staffed, that’s a fact.

“We will continue as things are this season.”

Bayern spent in excess of €60 million in the summer to secure both Dayot Upamecano and Marcel Sanitizer from Red Bull Leipzig while also signing Omar Richards from Reading and Sven Ulreich on free transfers.

However, a few departures from the club may be seen in the winter. Corentin Tolisso, Marc Roca and Mickael Cuisance are the possible departures from the club.

Bayern considering Ousmane Dembele transfer

Bayern Munich will be having a quiet winter but not a quiet summer of 2022.

They are already identifying targets including Erling Haaland, who they see as Robert Lewandowski’s long-term replacement if the Pole chooses to move on in the summer.

They are also working on closing new deals for their current players to extend their time at the Allianz Arena. One of such players is Kingsley Coman, whose contract talks are not going as planned for the German giants.

Coman’s contract with the German champions expires in 2023, but if Bayern cannot agree a new deal with the forward by summer of 2022, they will be putting him on the market as they don’t want to lose Coman for free, according to Christian Falk of SportBild.

Falk claims that Bayern have identified Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele as a potential replacement for Coman if their contract renewal talks fall through.

Dembele is also giving Barcelona a hard time with his own contract renewal talks and it is looking more than likely that the Frenchman may leave Camp Nou in the summer for free.

Erling Haaland will be an expensive signing in more ways than one as his agent will be demanding a £47 million outside the transfer fee the buying club will pay Borussia Dortmund, according to reports.

Mino Raiola has been in the media talking about a potential move for his client to a “big” club next summer and it is also understood that the striker is open to leaving BVB after two seasons at the club.

This commission, which the striker’s agent Mino Raiola and father Alf-Inge Haaland will be demanding, is more than what the interested clubs are bargaining for to sign the striker.

However, reports from The Sun have claimed that the Sharks on the blue half of Manchester are ready and willing to match whatever price Haaland will demand.

Haaland has a clause in his current contract that allows him to discuss with clubs in the summer, but that the clubs interested will have to pay a fee in the region of £68million.

The Sun also reports that along with the striker’s £21.3 million annual salary, the total package to land the 21-year-old could rise up to over £215 million.

Manchester City have played without a key striker for two seasons and they intend to fix it next summer. Harry Kane, 28, was their key target in the summer but Tottenham Hotspur played hardball.

With Haaland up for transfer in the summer, City have chosen to redirect the over £100 million it would have taken to sign a 28-year-old striker towards signing a more prolific 21-year-old striker in Haaland.

Real Madrid and Barcelona in the race for Haaland

Real Madrid have made no efforts to hide their ambitions to have Haaland play at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Alongside Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain, the former Red Bull Salzburg striker is Madrid president Florentino Perez’s dream signing.

The Spanish giants are also in a favourable financial position to sign the striker next summer and give Manchester City one more club to battle with.

But fresh reports now claim that Barcelona’s president met Raiola in Turin after planning to meet for some time, giving Barcelona’s quest to sign Haaland a little bit more legitimacy.

Haaland is having a great time at Dortmund but there’s a nagging feeling that he has outgrown the club, especially after their drop into the Europa League last Tuesday.

He has already more than paid back his £17 million transfer fee, with 71 goals from 70 total appearances. But the club doesn’t seem big enough for his – and his agent’s – ambitions.

We have been thinking for two years, claims Raiola

Raiola has decided to use his recent media rounds to alert Dortmund to their clause and prepare them for the inevitable.

“We have been thinking for two years. We have clear ideas of where Haaland should go. We are not influenced by the market,” he said to the media.

“We can influence [things] with a player like Haaland. It’s really a second game parallel to football… two days of matches and five of rumours.

“He will take the next step. Bayern, Real, Barca, City — these are the big clubs he can go to. When? Maybe this summer, maybe next. But there is a big chance he‘ll leave this summer.”

Corentin Tolisso has expressed a “desire to leave” Bayern Munich after an underwhelming five years at the club on a personal level.

The 27-year-old French international has won a host of titles with the German Bundesliga giants which translates to a successful professional career but all of the titles have come as a squad player.

The midfielder is seeking opportunities to play a big role in the success of a club and believes he will not get those opportunities at the Allianz Arena, which is why he’s seeking a move away from the club.

The France international has been with Bayern Munich since 2017. He joined the club for an initial fee of around £35 million from Olympique Lyonnais in France and has been in and out of the team due to injuries and manager preferences.

Tolisso has only played 63 times in the Bundesliga since he joined Bayern Munich at the start of the 2017/18 season and has made a total of 107 appearances for the club in all competitions in that time frame.

This season, the 27-year-old has only started five times across all competitions and has not been able to add to his 19 goals and 14 assists for Bayern since he joined the club.

The World Cup winner is out of contract next year, and Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with him in recent weeks. Foot Mercato reports claim that the midfielder is also open to a January exit due to his desire to leave Bayern. Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma are also said to be interested in his services.

Tolisso is looking for a club that will give him consistent playing time so that he doesn’t fall out of favour with Didier Deschamps who still counts on him ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Champions League football, although very important to Tolisso, has taken a back seat in his mind as he seeks an opportunity to defend his World Cup title from 2018 in the next global showpiece in December 2022.

More midfield departures for Bayern on the books with Tolisso’s departure

Tolisso is not the only Bayern midfielder who wants out due to a lack of playing time. Former Espanyol man Marc Roca and Mickael Cuisance are also seeking exits from the club from January.

While Tolisso’s exit could open up opportunities for both players, their playing time depends on Leon Goretzka’s fitness and manager Julian Nagelsmann’s tactical decisions every game.o

Tolisso is currently enjoying a run in Bayern’s midfield due to Goretzka recovering from an injury and is sure to be sent back to the bench once the German returns to full fitness.

Nagelsmann has stated in the earlier part of the season that the midfielder’s exit is not a favourable situation for the club. “It’s always a shame when players leave for free. It is never good for the club, and never good for the coach when players leave.”

Still, it is just a matter of when rather than if for the 27-year-old French midfielder to leave Bayern Munich. But that will also mean that the Bavarians will have to let either or both of Roca and Cuisance go, forcing them to go back into the transfer market for another midfielder or two.