Daily Schmankerl: Matthijs de Ligt and Krzysztof Piatek gaining more fans; Cengiz Ünder to get a new deal; and MORE!

Competition for Matthijs de Ligt heats up (The Guardian)

In Bayern Munich’s 1-1 Champions League draw with Ajax, fans got an opportunity to take a close look at two alleged targets of Die Roten: Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong. Neither player will be easy to procure and the competition for de Ligt is starting to get intense:

Manchester City and Barcelona are going head-to-head in the race for the Ajax defensive prodigy Matthijs de Ligt, who remained in Amsterdam despite being linked with a high-profile summer switch but whose days in his homeland appear numbered. According to Mundo Deportivo Barcelona have “activated protocols” in advance of a full-scale swoop, which makes the process of acquiring a defender sound like launching a nuclear missile from an off-shore submarine, but rumour has it that they were stirred into action by Manchester City’s own £52m offer.

Bayern Munich and Tottenham have also been linked with the 19-year-old Dutchman, but according to the Mirror Spurs’s search for defensive reinforcement is being concentrated on Florence, where the 20-year-old Serbian Nikola Milenkovic is currently plying his trade – though perhaps not for much longer.

Bayern target Krzysztof Piatek scored for Poland in loss against Portugal and is opening even more eyes (Calciomercato)

Krzysztof Piatek is getting A LOT of love these days and it will only increase now as the 23-year-old striker is piling up goals for club and country. It might not have been as nice as the golazo by James Rodriguez against the United States, but all the Polish striker does is score these days.

Bayern, of course, is not the only one who has noticed the Pole’s scoring prowess:

Juventus, Bayern Munich and Napoli are leading the race to sign Genoa star Krzysztof Piątek, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports. The 23-year-old striker is one of Europe’s most promising strikers as well as one of the most exciting prospects as he has already scored nine goals in just eight Serie A appearances so far this season. Chelsea and Barcelona had also been linked with welcoming the services of the striker who joined Genoa for just € 4 million last summer and is now worth almost € 40 million.

Cengiz Ünder to get new deal with AS Roma after Bayern and Man City come calling (Calciomercato)

The Turkish winger started to gain some attention from the world’s power clubs and AS Roma acted accordingly by upping the salary of Cengiz Ünder.

Calciomercato exclusively understand that Serie A giants Roma are set to hand a new contract to Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Manchester City target Cengiz Ünder. The Turkish sensation has become one of the most wanted young players across Europe and he joined Roma from Basaksehir in the summer of 2017 for a fee of 13.4 million euros. Since then, he has captured the attention of many.

Our Roma expert Francesco Balzani exclusively understands that the Giallorossi are set to hand Under a new contract before January, with Bayern Munich preparing a big offer for him and Manchester City and Arsenal monitoring his progress.

Schalke malcontent turned Crystal Palace man Max Meyer has settled in (TribalFootball.com)

Around this time last season Max Meyer was embroiled in an internal feud at Schalke, but the 23-year old German is enjoying his time in the Premier League:

The first few weeks were very exciting for me. A new country, a new language, new team mates. It was not so easy for me, but now it’s very good. I have good fitness, and everyone in the team helps me so I feel good. At the start, I didn’t know so many players here – just four of five of them, so it was not easy but now it’s better, I know everyone.

I know the club now, and enjoy playing here. London is an amazing, beautiful city. I enjoy it every day, it’s unbelievable. I want to make the next step in my career, play good football here at Palace, to finish maybe in the top 10 this season, and to have fun. That’s the most important thing.

Last Friday, the Evening Standard recapped Meyer’s first start with Crystal Palace, which resulted in a 2-1 loss to Bournemouth.

Meyer made his first Premier League start of the season at Bournemouth on Monday night. Playing in a midfield three alongside Luka Milivojevic and James McArthur, he showed what he can bring to a side still trying to adjust without Yohan Cabaye and Ruben Loftus-Cheek following their departures in the summer.

Meyer, though, linked up play well, started attacks from deep, found pockets of space in tight areas around the Bournemouth penalty area and provided Palace with some incision to their play despite them losing 2-1. The 23-year-old is still building up his fitness but Hodgson will hope he can begin to have a greater influence as Palace search for some consistency after a mixed start. They play Wolves at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Crystal Palace then went on to lose 1-0 to Wolverhampton last Saturday where Meyer came on as a substitute and played 27 minutes. Meyer nearly scored, but ultimately it was not enough for Crystal Palace.

A call for fan groups (BavarianFootballWorks.com)

We are trying something here at the Daily Schmankerl and need YOUR help. If you read my man Tommy Adams’ piece about his experience with the FCBNYC Fan Club (if you haven’t, SHAME ON YOU!), you could see how great the event was. So we want to highlight some of these wonderful groups that are out there globally and this is what we need from you:

• Name of the group
• Location
• Year founded
• Leadership (if you have people are kind of running the show)
• Meeting place
• Social media handles
• Pictures

I’d LOVE to be able to feature a different fan group every week this season. Maybe we can do it, maybe not...but only YOU can help decide the fate of this idea. Send your info to: barrelsportsblog@gmail.com