Sandro Wagner could seal deal to Bayern Munich soon

Hoffenheim and Germany striker Sandro Wagner is close to a return to Bayern Munich, his boyhood club, according to his coach Julian Nagelsmann.

Bayern has been searching for a reliable backup for Robert Lewandowski and talks with Hoffenheim about signing the 30-year-old Wagner have been underway for a number of weeks. Bayern president Uli Hoeness recently said the two clubs remained "miles apart on the transfer fee."

But Nagelsmann, who is also 30 and persistently rumored to be Bayern’s next coach, said on Thursday that there has been progress and expects “a deal to be done in the next two weeks."

The Munich-born Wagner joined Bayern at the age of nine, made his Bundesliga debut in 2007 but failed to make a lasting impression. He was a Bundesliga nomad, playing at Duisburg, Werder Bremen, Kaiserslautern and Hertha Berlin before hitting a run of good form at Darmstadt in 2015. Wagner linked up with Nagelsmann at Hoffenheim in 2016 and was called into the Germany squad earlier this year. Wagner has scored 18 goals in 50 appearances in all competitions for Hoffenheim and has five goals in seven appearances for Die Mannschaft.

So now that Nagelsmann alluded to progress toward a move to Munich for Wagner, there are only two questions left to answer: Wagner’s transfer free since his contract with Hoffenheim runs through June 2020 and ...