Daily Schmankerl: Javi Martinez’s future at Bayern Munich in doubt, Ribery suspended for shoving referee, Real Madrid plotting to sign Mbappé, and more!

Javi Martinez’s future at Bayern in doubt (Calciomercato)

It may be stating the obvious, but kudos to Calciomercato for pointing it out. Bayern Munich has not offered central defensive midfielder Javi Martinez a contract extension:

Javi Martinez’s Bayern Munich contract will expire in 2021 as his future remains in doubt. According to Calciomercato.com, it seems like the Spaniard hasn’t received any contract renewal proposals from the German club as his future remains in doubt.

Bayern has repeatedly been rumored to be searching for a central defensive midfielder, and the club submitted a significant bid for Atletico Madrid’s Rodrigo “Rodri” Hernandez, who ultimately chose to sign with Manchester City. A high-quality CDM is presumably still a priority for Bayern.

Ribery suspended three games for shoving referee (Football Italia)

Bayern Munich’s erstwhile enfant terrible has gotten himself into hot water in Italy. Ribery was furious after the game. Ciro Immobile scored the winning goal in the 89th minute. Ribery had provided an assist for Fiorentina’s goal in the 27th minute, but had been taken off by coach Vincenzo Montella, much to Ribery’s displeasure.

After the game, Ribery stormed out to hassle the officiating team and shoved one of the line referees twice before a colleague pulled him aside and showed hin the red card — an ejection after the game!

Ribery has been punished with a three-game suspension and a €20,000 fine. He will miss Fiorentina’s upcoming games against Sassuolo, Parma, and Cagliari. Fiorentina’s Luca Ranieri and Lazio’s Denis Vavro received one-game suspensions.

Ribery took to social media to own up to his actions and issue an apology.

And you think Bayern’s in crisis? Granit Xhaka booed off pitch by Arsenal fans (The Athletic)

Arsenal is reeling. Besides the elephant banished from the room, Mesut Özil, Unai Emery’s unhappy club is reeling from the torrent of hatred poured down on Arsenal’s captain, Granit Xhaka, by the club’s own fans. That came to a pitch on Sunday, when Xhaka was subbed off in the 61st minute after Arsenal blew a 2-0 lead to Crystal Palace. Xhaka was hailed with a wave of boos from the Arsenal fans as he walked off the pitch. He waved his arms, cupped his hand to his ear, and tore off his jersey as he disappeared down the tunnel.

His teammate, Lucas Torreira, was moved to tears by the abuse leveled at Xhaka. The Athletic writes,

The Uruguayan turned around and looked aghast at the fans that lined the tunnel. He outstretched his arms as if to ask: What the hell is this? He grew so upset he was actually moved to tears, standing there on the edge of the grass Xhaka had walked across on his tortuous route away from the pitch to get the hell out of there. Hector Bellerin went across to console Torreira. Unai Emery wrapped his arms around the little Uruguayan.

Three senior players went to visit Xhaka at home that night. He apparently left the stadium before the game had even ended. How Emery fixes the mess he currently is overseeing remains to be seen.

Real Madrid ramping up for record-shattering big for Kylian Mbappé (AS)

Real Madrid likes expensive toys, especially when they seem destined to become one of the all-time greats in the sport. According too AS, their no. 1 priority is, not Neymar, but Kylian Mbappé:

Last Tuesday a series of WhatsApp messages were doing the rounds amongst the Real Madrid board of directors with the main takeaway being: ”Have you seen what Kylian Mbappé did tonight?”

For some time now, Florentino Pérez has his mind firmly made up that the French player is the missing piece in his side and at the age of 20, a player on which to build a team going forward as were the likes of Cristiano, Zidane or Ronaldo.

The only catch is that Mbappé is the most valuable player in the world and he is under contract with filthy-rich Paris Saint-Germain until 2022. PSG’s selling price, if it can be called that, is reportedly €300m.

But perhaps Mbappé himself is growing tired of PSG. He seems to have been annoyed that Thomas Tuchel benched him for PSG’s last game against Club Brugge. After he single-handedly turned the game around, he remarked, “I wanted to start the game but I later showed that it’s complicated for the coach to not use me...” And Mbappé said at an award ceremony that he’d be open to taking on responsibility “maybe at PSG...or maybe elsewhere with a new project.” Real supposedly want to dump James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale to help replenish their war chest, but their sales will come nowhere close to what Mbappé is worth.

Ah yes, the ol’ dispossess-you-with-a-nutmeg-Maradona-nutmeg-breakaway move!

Cheers to you, Angela Morales! That was nasty.

Bayern II clinch point against Mannheim with last-minute equalizer (FCBayern)

Bayern II snatched a point from the mouth of defeat thanks to a last-minute goal against SV Waldhof Mannheim by Timo Kern. As Uli Hoeness himself looked on with the fans, Kwasi “Otschi” Wriedt put the Bavarians ahead with his ninth goal of the season. Christian Früchtl saved a penalty kick by Dorian Diring in the 41st minute. In the second half, though, Mannheim equalized near the hour mark but then went a man down in the 70th minute. Just minutes afterward, though, Bayern somehow conceded another goal. Trailing 1-2, Bayern managed to tie the game thanks to Kern’s strike.

Bayern II is currently 11th in the 3.Liga with 18 points after 13 games. Well done, boam!