Daily Schmankerl: Bayern Munch still chasing Callum Hudson-Odoi?; A prediction for the DFB-Pokal finale; Sergio Ramos to leave Real Madrid?; and MORE!

Hudson-Odoi still on Bayern’s radar? (Football.London)

With everyone hot and bothered (and rightfully so!) over the prospect of Manchester City’s Leroy Sane joining Bayern Munich this summer, it seems that some of the spotlight had been taken away from Bayern’s other big target: Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Per a report out of England, however, Bayern’s pursuit of the domestic double later today won’t be the only twosome of prizes that the Bavarians are chasing after.

However, the (Karl-Heinz Rummenigge) did not also rule out another chase for Hudson-Odoi to bolster their wide options with Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben both heading out the door. Football.london understands that Bayern are still interested in the youngster, despite their pursuit for Sane.

Hudson-Odoi’s situation is still unclear. After forcing his way into the Premier League side, he picked up a serious injury in the 2-2 draw with Burnley, rupturing his Achilles’ tendon, which required surgery. His recovery is expected to take all of the summer plus the beginning of next season. However, that is not the biggest issue for the Blues. They are willing to wait for him to recover, but they are still keen to tie him down to a long-term contract. As far as Hudson-Odoi is concerned, the youngster could put pen to paper and commit his long-term future with the Blues, especially if Eden Hazard was to move to Real Madrid this summer.

The DFB-Pokal finale: A prediction (Bavarian Football Works)

The DFB-Pokal final is upon us and we should be in store for a quality match-up between Bayern and RB Leipzig.

For RB Leipzig, this is an opportunity to assert itself among the league powers. Sure, the East German club has put together a string of formidable seasons, but a Pokal championship would be a logical first step in making the leap to being a legitimized Bundesliga contender. For as much as Die Roten Bullen was competitive with the league’s elite this season, winning a title of significance would mean a ton to an emerging club.

As always, RB Leipzig is loaded with young talent and has enough over skill and aggression to make like hard on Bayern. The squad’s offense is led by Timo Werner, Yussuf Poulsen, Emil Forsberg, while players Marcel Sabitzer, Kevin Kampl (ankle injury), Konrad Laimer and others give the team a very solid foundation.

For Bayern, this will come down to its offensive stars. I am fully confident that the double pivot of Thiago Alcantara and Javi Martinez can muddle up the running lanes for the Leipzig attack, while the back four of David Alaba, Mats Hummels, Niklas Sule, and Joshua Kimmich have been extremely disciplined of late, which has eliminated a lot of the lapses we saw earlier in the season.

So, yeah, this game will come down to how cohesive Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Serge Gnabry, and Kingsley Coman are on the pitch. RB Leipzig has a plethora of capable defenders to send at the Bayern attack, but are they going to have to have the consistency to thwart the Bayern offense for a whole game?

The thinking here is “no.”

Prediction: Bayern Munich 3, RB Leipzig 1

A price for James? (Transfer Market Web)

If this is true, it does not look like Real Madrid is going to get rich off of sale of James Rodriguez.

Not quite likely to be bought back by Bayern Munich, Colombian international attacking midfielder/winger James Rodriguez (27), still on a parent-club deal with Real Madrid until June 2021, is allegedly still tracked by both Arsenal and Juventus. Former Porto and AS Monaco player is set to be put up for sale on an about 35 million euros transfer fee.

Bayern among the teams scoping Vlachidimos (Transfer Market Web)

Bayern, AS Roma, Arsenal Chelsea, and Newcastle United are all keeping a close eye on 25-yea-old Benfica goalkeeper and Greece international Odysseas Vlachodimos.

While Benfica are getting closer and closer to sign Jasper Cillessen from FC Barcelona, Greek international Odysseas Vlachodimos (25) is likely to leave Portuguese club, after just one season in. According to gazzetta.it, former Panathinaikos stopper, still on a deal with Aguias until June 2023, is tracked by 5 clubs: Bayern Munich, AS Roma, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Newcastle.

A note on my potential drunkenness (Bavarian Football Works)

Against my better judgement, I am kicking around the idea of developing a transfer drinking game for this summer. The game — as it stands now — would be to randomly generate a reduced-sized Bingo board for the week and post it in the Schmankerl on a Sunday.

From there, I would have to mark off every player whose name gets mentioned over the course of the week. Should I hit “BFW Drunken Transfer Bingo”, I will have to do some sort of drinking stunt. Perhaps shots of Ol’ Grandad (or perhaps something worse...if there is anything. Quick story, I did a shot of some sort of old grain alcohol that is no longer produced called Tube City or something at my uncle’s house about a decade ago on Christmas night and I think I can still taste it...but I digress) or go to a bar and order a Malibu Bay Breeze (for the comedic effect of course...because I don’t drink those! I don’t I swear!).

I haven’t thought this all the way through, but then again, when do I ever? Here’s a rough sketch of a potential board.

What do you think?

Mintzlaff won’t give up on Werner (kicker)

Despite the many overtures coming from Bayern and Liverpool among others, RB Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaff won’t fully give up hope on signing Timo Werner.

The door is not closed. We are known for the fact that we like to fight. So of course we’re going to make another attempt now. If he says he doesn’t want to extend, we want to talk to his consultant about what an exit scenario could look like.

If — and this is an ENORMOUS IF — Werner somehow doesn’t get sold this summer, Leipzig would risk losing him for free in the summer of 2020 should he not re-sign with the club.

German women’s team puts out killer promo (@dw_sports)

I’m not sure how I originally missed this, but what a great job on the production of this piece on Germany’s 2019 World Cup squad.

Ramos to leave Madrid? (AS)

I’ll believe this when I see it, but here you go:

Sergio Ramos is seriously considering leaving Real Madrid in the wake of the La Liga club’s poor season, a report on Spanish television has claimed. The program El Chiringuito says Ramos is weighing up accepting one of the many offers that he has from other clubs, and moving to pastures new.

A major catalyst for the captain’s doubts about his future at the Santiago Bernabéu is said to be his furious dressing-room argument with Madrid president Florentino Pérez during March’s last-16 exit from Europe’s premier club competition.

Schalke hits Twitter to discourage Sane from Bayern move (@s04_us)

Sane may have left Schalke 04 back in 2016, but his old club really wants him to stay in the Premier League (for obvious reasons).