Daily Schmankerl: Eintracht Frankfurt and Fiorentina to bid on Franck Ribery? Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez can’t escape Real Madrid; Mario Gotze might have to take a pay cut; Max Philipp and Andre Schurrle to Moscow?; plus MORE!

Eintracht Franck-furt? (Bild)

On Sunday, we found out that Liverpool had briefly considered bringing in Bayern Munich legend Franck Ribery as a depth piece to fill out its roster. Now, it looks like Eintracht Frankfurt is contemplating making a move for the 36-year-old Frenchman:

According to Bild information, Eintracht has contacted Ribéry’s advisor to find out whether Ribéry would be willing to sign a one-year performance-related contract.

Ribery, however, is unsure on whether he wants to continue to play in the Bundesliga — mostly because it would mean squaring off with the club where he spent the greatest years of his career:

Ribéry himself hesitates above all because he can hardly imagine playing against his Bavarians.

According to Bild, Eintracht Frankfurt’s bosses are denying that they have interest in Ribery, but the veteran played coy when asked about a connection to Die Adler:

I have many offers and am still hot on football. I’ll keep playing, I’ll make up my mind soon.

One important factor in the Eintracht Frankfurt scenario would be geography. As of now, Ribery does not intend to uproot his family from Munich. No doubt, that stance could change for the right offer:

This is important for my family. At least geographically Frankfurt would be the closest offer.

Eintracht Frankfurt is not the only club pondering a move for Ribery, though. Yesterday we mentioned Arsenal and some unnamed Qatari sides, but today Transfer Market Web captured some information from Sport Bild that indicates that Fiorentina might make a move for Ribery:

According to Sport Bild, Fiorentina new owner, Rocco Commisso, is planning a rich move on former Bayern Munich and French NT legendary 36-year-old Franck Ribery. Now a fancy free agent, Ribery has recently been inquired about by Arsenal and Eintracht Frankfurt, as well as by some Qatari sides. On his hand, he seems to be planning to move back to Olympique Marseille.

Philipp and Schurrle making a move to Russia (kicker)

Borussia Dortmund is looking to reduce its roster size and thinks it might be able to move both Max Philipp and Andre Schurrle. Eintracht Frankfurt, Wolfsburg, and Dynamo Moscow are all reportedly interested in Philipp, while Spartak Moscow is allegedly keen on Schurrle.

Maximilian Philipp is a sales candidate. From the Bundesliga, VfL Wolfsburg was regarded as a potential candidate for the sale, and rumours have recently appeared that Eintracht Frankfurt would join the poker team. According to kicker information, however, the hottest lead leads to Russia. Dynamo Moscow, the former club of national striker Kevin Kuranyi, is currently the most likely option. The fee for the flexible offensive player is likely to be just under 20 million euros. André Schürrle is also attracted to Moscow alongside Philipp — Spartak has stretched out his feelers after the offensive player.

The immediate future for James seems set with Los Blancos (Marca)

For a long time it looked like James Rodriguez was going to be able to get away from Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane. Real Madrid’s recent loss of Marco Asensio to an ACL tear threw a wrench into those plans, however. While Atlético Madrid is still holding out minor hope that it can bring in the Colombia international, the possibilities seems less likely by the day.

Atletico’s directors are hopeful of advancing talks with their Real Madrid counterparts, but there have been no steps forward and a complete turnaround isn’t really looking likely. Zinedine Zidane isn’t planning on using the Colombian in the upcoming season and Real Madrid would prefer to sell him to Napoli, the other club that has been interested in his services throughout the summer. For Atletico, this is a complicated puzzle that seems like it will be difficult to solve.

Bale out of China deal (@bbcsport_david)

What seemed so certain on Saturday, blew up on Sunday. Gareth Bale’s move to Jiangsu Suning has fallen apart according to BBC reporter David Ornstein. The €1 million-per-week move is said to be off-the-table because Real Madrid shut it down.

Bale’s great-great-great grandchildren will eventually be pissed about missing out on all of that loot.

Gotze in the middle of a salary debate with BVB (kicker)

Mario Gotze had a very successful season with Borussia Dortmund in 2018-2019, but is in the final year of his contract. If Gotze is looking for a salary in the €10 million-range, he might have to go elsewhere.

Borussia Dortmund is prepared to pay Götze seven to eight million euros a year — but since his return in 2016 he, like Marco Reus and Mats Hummels, has earned eight figures and sees himself in line with this duo. In contrast to their other habits, BVB would rather accept the idea of letting Götze go free in 2020 than to offer him a new contract with an annual salary of ten million euros.

Barca fan in the wrong place at the wrong time (@Football_HQ)

This FC Barcelona fan attended the Real Madrid vs. Atlético Madrid game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Things went exactly how you thought they would.