So far in 2019, Bayern Munich’s two biggest transfer attacking targets have gone down with near-catastrophic injuries. First, Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi went down with a ruptured Achilles back in April. Next on the list, Manchester City’s Leroy Sane went down with a torn ACL.
That’s tough.
Since that happened, Hudson-Odoi has been rumored to be re-signing with Chelsea, and two players that were reportedly on Bayern’s next-level tier of players, Ajax’s Hakim Ziyech and PSV Eindhoven’s Steven Bergwijn, have either signed extensions or are rumored to be signing one.
So, what’s next?
Reports have been coming from Italy and Germany that Bayern were interested in bringing Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic to the club. There have also been reports all summer long that Bayern were sniffing around bringing Mario Mandzukic back to the club after five seasons away.
Now, we have reports from Sport1 and Kicker lending even more credence to these reports.
According to Sport1, Niko Kovac proposed Perisic in a transfer discussion last week, but sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic turned it down. Then, when Sane went down with his injury, CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge began warming to the idea. Uli Hoeness isn’t convinced; however, he’s not necessarily against the move.
Big time agent Giovanni Branchini apparently was working to connect Bayern with Perisic’s agent. Branchini has done good work related to Bayern over the years, as he’s believed to have had a hand in getting Luca Toni, Pep Guardiola, and Lucas Hernandez to the club.
Perisic knows that he’d be joining the club in a substitute role and is amenable to it. He already knows the league well, having spent four seasons with Borussia Dortmund and Wolfsburg.
Potentially, he would be joined by fellow countrymen and former Bayern forward Mandzukic. Kicker reports that Bayern are still targeting two wingers and another forward. Two of those three are being zeroed in on as Perisic and Mandzukic.
Mandzukic would see some familiar faces in his return to Munich. There are currently six players on the squad (Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, David Alaba, Javi Martinez, Thiago Alcantara, Thomas Muller) that played with Manduzkic in 2013-14.