Daily Schmankerl: Bayern eyeing Schalke youngster; Bayern U23s meet Dirk Nowitzki; Javi Martinez had The Hunger Games on his mind as a teen; and MORE!

Bayern scoping Schalke youngster (Derwesten)

Ahead of this weekend’s tilt against Schalke 04, Bayern might be looking to Die Königsblauen for some future help. The Bavarians are reportedly interested in 18-year-old Turkish-German striker Ahmed Kutucu.

Kutucu was recently promoted to the first team and had a goal in Schalke’s 4-1 DFB-Pokal win over Fortuna Dusseldorf on Wednesday.

As Bild reports, Bayern have kept an eye on Ahmed Kutucu. (Bayern campus athletic director) Hermann Gerland is a great advocate of a purchase of Ahmed Kutucu. It is quite possible that sports director Hasan Salihamidzic now explores Schalke after the 18-year-old.

The timing is curious given that Bayern just secured Hamburger SV’s Jann-Fiete Arp yesterday, but perhaps Bayern is loading its youth ranks in preparation to loan out some players for developmental purposes.

Bayern U23s get visit from NBA legend (@FCBayernUS)

Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki met up with the Bayern U23 while they are in Texas.

Martinez claims he had idea for The Hunger Games (Bild)

I can’t believe I just typed that headline, but here we go. As Javi Martinez told Bild, he believes he came up with the concept for The Hunger Games as a teenager.

Writing is a pleasure for me. Even as a teenager, I started to write a book. Believe it or not, the plot was pretty much the same as the storyline of The Hunger Games.

When Martinez went to watch the first film, he was dumbfounded to see the similarities with his idea.

It was strange: I was sitting in the cinema and thought, “This can’t be real. That’s my idea that I had years ago!”

There is no reason to doubt Martinez, I guess. The Spaniard must have a great, creative mind! Martinez, of course, will be penning a column for Socrates magazine, but has yet to accept my offer to write a “Guest Schmankerl.”

Kimmich turns 24 (@FCBayern)

The Mustache Kid is 24-years-old today.

Jerome Boateng poked a little fun at the birthday boy.

Looking for some weekly Bundesliga predictions? I’ve got you covered (The Barrel)

If you are looking to kill some time this morning and want a brief preview on each Bundesliga match (along with some predictions that will most likely go up in flames quickly), I’ve got you covered here.

ICYMI: The journey of Chris Richards (Bavarian Football Works)

If you didn’t catch this, you should. Take a look at the journey that Chris Richards made from Alabama to Bavaria and everywhere in between. Bayern, Chris, his family, and his former coach Eric Quill gave us great access to tell the story on how the American made the jump to Germany.