Daily Schmankerl: Pep Guardiola gives “consent” for Leroy Sane to leave Manchester City; Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan join Bayern Munich and Liverpool in race for Max Kruse; plus MORE!

Pep allegedly gave his “consent” for Sane to go to Bayern (Daily Star)

Has Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola given his blessing for Leroy Sane to join Bayern Munich?

According to the Sunday Times the City boss has ‘consented’ to Bayern signing Sane this summer. The Catalan is eyeing an elite signing in defense, midfield and attack and know he has to both raise funds and make room in his squad.

Benfica’s Joao Felix is heavily on City’s radar and Sane is seen as the most attractive player for them to offload. They also know Sane’s value could plummet next season as he enters the final two years of his contract.

The use of the word “consented” here cracks me up, but I digress. This still feels like both sides are feeling the other out in a negotiating process.

Pep: “Oh, so you want to leave and go to Germany. You now have my consent.”

Sane: “I’ll do it....I’ll go...unless you want to talk about maybe playing me more and giving me a slight raise? Oh, and if you promise to never do that weird post game thing you did to both Joshua Kimmich and Raheem Sterling. That’s non-negotiable.”

Pep: “But I just gave you my consent...plus, you know I need to make at least one post game spectacle a season to show all of my devotees how passionate I am about coaching.”

Sane: “Okay, let me think about that. In the meantime, why don’t you have your people leak some things to the English press and I’ll have my agent take care of the Germans.”

It is tough to imagine that Pep can look at Sane and want to turn away such a fine young talent or even that Sane would want to leave the Premier League at this stage. That said, the 23-year-old would be a tremendous fit with Bayern — there is no disputing that — but I’ll be skeptical until talks start to heat up a bit more.

Spurs and Inter join the race for Kruse (Football 365)

Werder Bremen’s Max Kruse will leave the club as a free agent this summer and yesterday we reported that both Bayern and Liverpool were reportedly interested in the 31-year-old. Now, it looks like we can add Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan to the list.

Kruse’s contract with Werder Bremen expires this summer after a three-year spell at the Weserstadion. Tottenham and Inter Milan have both been credited with an interest in Kruse, but Germany’s Sport1 say Bayern ‘are already running at full speed in the background’ in their pursuit of a back-up for Robert Lewandowski.

Kruse ‘is on the candidate list’ for that spot as he is ‘more of a hanging tip or a playmaker’ than a center-forward, meaning he would provide a different option. The report adds that there have been ‘no concrete negotiations’ as Kruse is looking for ‘another major contract’ with ‘salary expectations in the higher single-digit million range’.

Mbappe not going anywhere apparently (@PSG_Inside)

In a move that will likely have a trickle-down effect on the transfer market, it appears that Kylian Mbappe is going to stay put with Paris Saint-Germain. It was rumored that Real Madrid was going to make a power move for the 20-year-old star, but that appears to be a bit unlikely at this point. Where will Los Blancos try and divert the money they were going to try to spend on the France international? PSG’s Neymar? Chelsea’s Eden Hazard? Tottenham’s Harry Kane?

Very strong links have united Paris Saint-Germain and Kylian Mbappe for the past two years and the common history will continue next season. With a shared ambition to mark the history of European football, the year of the 50th anniversary of the PSG, a long-awaited moment to write together a great page in the history of our club in which each major player will have to take its full part by working for the collective.

It’s official: Schulz joins BVB (@BlackYellow)

As expected, Hoffenheim’s Nico Schulz has made the move to Borussia Dortmund.

Per kicker:

According to kicker information, the 26-year-old national player will cost 27 million euros and will receive a contract until 2024.

FIFA makes enormous ticket blunder for Women’s World Cup (@FIFAWWC)

FIFA’s approach to leave its ticket distribution to the “flying fickle finger of fate” seems to not have been a good plan.

I had seriously considered making the trip to France this summer with my family and the thought of getting there and having four people not next to each — with no guarantee of even being near each other — would have put a big damper on the fun.

Davies makes Gold Cup roster (MLSsoccer.com)

Bayern Munich youngster and former Vancouver Whitecaps star Alphonso Davies has been named to Canada’s provisional roster for the Gold Cup.

Led by 18 MLSers, the Canada men’s national team provisional 40-man Gold Cup roster has been revealed. Final 23-man rosters for the Gold Cup are due on June 6. Canada will kick off play in Group A against Martinique on June 15, with Mexico and Cuba the other two members of their group.

Vancouver Whitecaps have had the most players called in (5), while MLS’s two other Canadian clubs Montreal Impact (4) and Toronto FC (3) well-represented as well. Orlando City SC (3), LAFC (2) and the Chicago Fire (1) round out MLS’s call-ups to Canada’s provisional roster. The domestic players are joined by players abroad such as Alphonso Davies, Cyle Larin, Ballou Tabla and others.

Canada are coming off winning all four of their Nations League Qualifying games with a goal difference of +17 over those matches.

Ribery’s emotional good bye (You Tube — FC Bayern)

Atleti pondering Tah? (kicker)

Could Atletico Madrid bring in Bayer Leverkusen defender and German international Jonathan Tah?

Atletico Madrid faces a mid-size squad shift in the summer; Juanfran, Diego Godin and Antoine Griezmann will at least go. Does Jonathan Tah come for that? The Colchoneros are campaigning for Leverkusen’s international, but he does not (yet) feel any urge to follow suit. The 23-year-old Tah had extended in February 2018 to 2023 at Bayer.