Transfer Rumors: Suarez Staying Put, Bayern Plotting Özil Move

Previously, several sources had alleged (with little credibility) that Pep Guardiola dreams of bringing Luis Suarez to Munich. Well, we've been skeptical all week, and it turns out the skepticism was justified: Suarez is happy at Liverpool and wants to stay. Considering Bayern is so deep at the striker position, this never really made any sense; looks like the media-generated speculation can die down for a bit. Anyway, if Liverpool keep playing well, maybe they'll be in a position to be playing in the Champions League next year.

A more interesting story has surfaced over the past few hours: a few sources say that Pep and the Bayern board want to tempt Mesut Özil to the Allianz Arena. Several sources are doing the rumor-mongering, including Caught Offside and Business Day, but they all refer back to the same story in Mundo Deportivo. Now, this is the type of story the Spanish press always stirs up, and Özil himself has repeatedly said he's happy in Madrid. So I'm not allowing myself to get too excited. But, it's worth keeping an eye on, especially as Luca Modric's arrival makes Özil ... not "expendable," certainly, but maybe we could say his loss wouldn't be as catastrophic for Real right now.

"Yeah, but where would he play," you ask? Well, that's easy: wherever the hell he wants to.

Another strange rumor is that Guardiola also wants Chico Flores, the Swansea City defender, for next season. This would have made more sense before the Jan Kirchhoff move. Now that he's on the way, I don't see where Flores might fit it. Even if Boateng is on the way out (and we've heard no solid proof of that), Dante is playing great, Badstuber will certainly get a chance to retain his starting spot, and Kirchhoff will be expected to be at least a reliable rotation guy. Nonetheless, if Chico is willing to be a low-usage sub and emergency option, I guess I'd welcome him ... but he'll be 26 years old in a few weeks, so it seems like an illogical move. Unless Pep is trying to do a "remake the whole team in the image of Barcelona" thing, which I doubt would have gotten him hired in the first place.

Anyway, it's likely that our roster is set for the rest of this year, so everything else is pretty much future speculation. I'm trying not to get too cranked up over the Özil rumors, and to keep in mind that they create this kind of talk over pretty much nothing in Spain. Still ... man, that would border on life-altering for me.

In other Bunsdeliga transfer news, Michel Bastos is headed to Schalke, and Zdravko Kuzmanovic is leaving VfB and headed to Inter Milan. As always, stay tuned to this site and our twitter feed for the latest news, and we'll be back soon with the Mainz preview. Thanks for reading.