Daily Schmankerl: Juan Bernat still drawing interest; Ante Rebić and Leon Bailey are open to transfers; and MORE!

Real Betis has its eyes on Juan Bernat (Estadio Deportivo)

La Liga side Real Betis may consider a late run at Juan Bernat to help bolster its defense.

Of course, in Betis, they have covered their backs and are working in tandem with Gavà for other outside-backs. One of them, more expensive and a lefty, is Juan Bernat (25), who has one year left on his contract with Bayern. As this newspaper has confirmed, Serra asked about his situation a few days ago, but is not forward for now.

Bernat is not going to supplant David Alaba...ever, so he really should move on if possible. At 25, he just needs to be in a place where he can get on the field. Bernat was previously linked to Wolfsburg and Juventus, but Real Betis may be a better fit for the Spaniard than either of those places.

Ante Rebić not ruling out a transfer this summer just yet (Sport Bild)

Sport Bild captured Rebić’s latest statements to Goal.com and the Eintracht Frankfurt star isn’t worried about his lack of movement so far in this transfer window:

It’s still very early for these stories. The transfer window will be open almost another full month. I transferred to Fiorentina on August 29th and to Frankfurt on August 31st. Most moves happen in the final days of the transfer window. Then my situation will be clearer.

Rebić has been linked to many big clubs after a dynamic DFB Pokal winning performance against Bayern and a very solid World Cup performance for Croatia.

From Everton to Tottenham to Manchester United, Bayern and Sevilla — Rebić is said to have sparked the interest of some big clubs. Asked about a possible transfer to José Mourinho and United, the offensive player responded confidently: “I am certainly happy when I hear or read how many great coaches and big clubs are inquiring about me. Honestly, I’ve earned it.”

Eintracht sports director Fredi Bobić recently declared that “no offers whatsoever” have been made the Croatian, but Rebic contradicted him: “I know that there are concrete offers.” For a transfer fee of 50 million euros, the German Cup winner would probably allow Ante Rebić — who is still under contract until 2021 — to leave.

I can’t see a way Bayern could move on Rebić this season given the current composition of its roster, but if Die Roten is going to get into the mix for Rebić, perhaps a future deal or even a pursuit next summer is more in line.

Still kinda looks weird, huh? (@kingarturo23)

Leon Bailey is popular and may not be opposed to leaving Leverkusen (Sport1)

Bayer Leverkusen phenom Leon Bailey won’t rule out a move away from Die Werkself.

Leverkusen’s left winger Leon Bailey speaks out personally about a possible transfer. The 20-year-old can not rule out a transfer this summer.

Bailey is starting to sound like a guy who will not be joining Julian Brandt, Kai Havertz, and Jonathan Tah, among others in the Leverkusen youth movement:

What I can say is that my full focus is on developing myself as a young player, and that’s what I’m concentrating on. If a club wants me, my management and Bayer 04 will deal with it.

Bailey is a VERY popular player on this site, but Bayern has only been mentioned in some old whispers. Bailey has been more recently tied to AS Roma and Chelsea. If Leverkusen were to open up bidding, I would think additional teams would spring into action.

Mario Gomez has retired from international soccer (kicker)

After an uneventful and downright disappointing 2018 World Cup, Mario Gomez will end his international career. In a letter to VfB Stuttgart fans, Gomez broke the news as excerpted below:

Unfortunately you cannot always leave the field as a winner. My time in the national team was not always easy, not always successful and yet wonderful! I have met many people with whom I will remain very close. But now it’s time to make way and give the many young and highly talented boys the opportunity to fulfill their dream, to prove themselves, to gain experience and to achieve the best for Germany. Every one of the players who are coming now has the quality! I will always stay connected to the DFB team and am, like all Germans, now a big fan of this team.

Sport Bild makes the case for a Sandro Wagner return to Die Mannschaft (Sport Bild)

It may seem hard to believe, but we aren’t too far off form international soccer creeping back on to the scene. Christian Falk of Sport Bild is calling for a truce between scorned striker Sandro Wagner and coach Jogi Löw.

Mario Gomez’s resignation exacerbates a deficit that has long been bothering the German national team: the footballing country of Gerd Muller, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Miroslav Klose has a striker problem more than ever! Jogi Löw relied on Timo Werner in the group matches at an embarrassing World Cup outing in Russia. The young Leipzig player is an attacker who can become world class — but he needs space.

The tournament has shown: if the opponents of the quadruple-world-champion pack the penalty area, Germany needs a real battering ram. Löw’s decision to leave the self-appointed “best German striker” at home for the World Cup has proven to be a mistake. Wagner then submitted his resignation.

Not that Wagner has looked in top form for Bayern this preseason, but it would show some tremendous growth for Löw if he even made an effort to mend fences with Wagner.

FC Bayern Frauen are “on the right track” (FCBayern.com)

The Frauen played Liverpool in a friendly yesterday and achieved a 1-1 result, but there were plenty of positives to take away for the Bayern ladies.

A draw in the friendly: The FC Bayern women have caught up in their friendly against Liverpool FC Ladies a 1-0 deficit by a goal by Melanie Leupolz and ended the encounter at FC Bayern Campus 1-1. At 32 degrees Celsius and in front of 350 spectators, the physical fitness of the Bayern players against a robust English team was noteworthy, which already started three weeks earlier in the season and had a corresponding preparatory advantage. Coaches and players were then satisfied and made after only two weeks of their own preparation after the game still some improvement points.

Frauen coach Thomas Wörle was pleased with the squad’s effort and is ready to get back to the training ground to “fine tune” the team’s play.

Overall, this was a very good test today against a team with pronounced hardness and physicality. Liverpool played a lot of counter-attacks today, so we had to be very vigilant. We also did that quite well in most cases. The first half we dominated and controlled pretty much, we were similarly strong in the second. However, especially in the first half we have left too many chances to score, ‘analyzed the coach and added.’ So early in the preparation it was nice to see how creative we played out these many scoring opportunities. Now fine tuning is about to commence, so slowly we start to build a rhythm and self-confidence. The rest will certainly come in the next few weeks, we are on the right track.

Bayern’s Nicole Rolser, a former Liverpool player, had this to say regarding the match:

Liverpool today played just like a typical English team, physically very robust. They were defensively well-behaved with their five-line and have set more on counterattack. But on the whole, that was a helpful test today. Especially internationally, it is always good to see where you stand and where you can still improve. We have already left some chances, we were definitely superior.

The Frauen will travel to Toulouse, France for the International Ladies Cup, where they compete against Paris Saint Germain and Montpellier HSC in an effort to further prepare for the season.