Daily Schmankerl: Barcelona interested in Sergino Dest, Real Madrid might let Bale go for free, Coutinho’s agent discusses his future, and more!

Barcelona weighing up the signing of Sergino Dest (Cat Radio)

According to Cat Radio, Barcelona are studying the possibility of signing Ajax youngster Sergino Dest this summer. The USMNT youngster has already been heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich — could the Catalans play spoilsport in the plans?

Well, who knows? Dest’s agent already denied concrete inquiries from Barcelona about his client’s future, so maybe this is just a bunch of hullabaloo for nothing. However, there are definitely rumblings in Spain that the Catalans are ready to let Nelson Semedo leave this summer — if that transfer does indeed happen, then getting a replacement right back will be a top priority for Bartomeu and co. Let’s hope they go for the low-hanging fruit and buy Joao Cancelo instead, and leave Dest to us.

Speaking of which, Dest has been voted Ajax’s talent of the year. Congrats to him.

Real Madrid may let Gareth Bale leave for free (ABola)

According to this report, Real Madrid may be willing to let Gareth Bale leave on a free (or at least a very tiny transfer fee) just to get him off the club’s wage bill. The Welshman hasn’t been a desirable commodity at Madrid for some time now, although he has notched up a decent number minutes this season. Like every other football club in existence, the Blancos are likely hurting from the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, and getting rid of Bale’s exorbitant wages might be worth the loss they’ll incur by losing him on a free.

One thing is for certain — there’s no way Bayern Munich will get him. We have enough injury-prone wingers already.

Philippe Coutinho’s agent discusses his future (talkSPORT)

While Philippe Coutinho may never play another game for Bayern Munich, the future of the Brazilian is still one of the hot topics in world football. According to the player’s agent, Kia Joorbachien, Coutinho is not yet speaking to anyone about any deals at the moment.

“But in terms of the rumors? At the moment we have not spoken to anybody about any deals whatsoever,” he said.

“I think at the moment everyone’s concentration is on this pandemic and how football can restart in a safe and secure environment, and the health of safety of everybody. The transfer side of things and where Philippe will go, or where other players will go, will come into play further down the line when things have got back to some sort of normality.”

BFW is organizing a Zoom talk!

In lieu of Fox Sports providing any pregame coverage for the American audience, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to do some of our own! We will be conducting a watch-a-long via Zoom before the game starts on Sunday. We’ll talk about the game, answer some questions, and just generally have some fun! If you’d like to watch with us, this is how to do so! Either:

• Click this link.
• Or go to zoom.us or go to the zoom host on your computer, if it’s already downloaded. Enter this meeting I.D. and password:

Meeting ID: 836 4230 0660
Password: 088924

But, remember, there are a few rules:

1. No talking unless we ask you to speak up. If you speak out of turn, or unmute yourself, we will kick you from the meeting.
2. No zoom spamming. We will end the meeting if we’re getting bombarded with hacks, so don’t try it.
3. Keep the chat room and the language appropriate. We want to keep this fun and light.

We hope to see you on Sunday!