Bayern Munich line up Dodo as plan B if Sergino Dest chooses Barcelona (Updated)

It seems that Bayern Munich’s hunt for a new right back this summer might not be going as planned. Initially linked with USMNT youngster Sergino Dest, the Bavarians were unable to confirm the transfer owing to Ajax’s asking price. Now, it appears that Barcelona have also registered their interest in the player.

Dest posted a cryptic video on his Instagram posing in a Barcelona-branded jacket. Whether this means anything is anyone’s guess. His agent did deny any concrete interest from the Catalans a few weeks ago, but maybe something changed in the meantime. Or perhaps this is a stunt to make Bayern up their bid. Who can say?

In any case, there’s a decent chance that the bosses have a plan B up their sleeve in case Dest does in fact move to Barcelona. According to le10sport, the Bavarians are willing to offer €20m for Shakhtar Donetsk right back Dodo. This is still lower than the €30m demanded by Shakhtar, and PSG are also said to be in the mix.

So, who do we believe? Well, there’s no reason to jump to conclusions as of yet. Bayern registered concrete interest in Dest as far back as January, and the player reciprocated by visiting the club’s stadium to watch a game before the shutdown. However, Barca and Ajax have a “special” relationship that may influence the youngster to move to Spain, in which case Dodo seems like a good alternative.

The bosses already have experience doing business with Shakhtar — Bayern paid the Ukrainians €30m for Douglas Costa back in 2016, and that transfer was a success (at least in a financial sense — the club made a profit selling him to Juventus). Going back to get another Brazilian makes plenty of sense. It all seems very plausible, which is a sign of reliability for a transfer rumor — but we should temper our expectations and let the market run its course. There’s no telling who Bayern will buy when the transfer window opens, whenever that may be.

Update

According to Bild reporter Tobias Altschaffl, there is no agreement between Dest and Barcelona.

Sergiño Dest last posed in FC Barcelona’s tracksuit, and even an agreement with Barça has been reported. But: Club circles from Barcelona deny an agreement, the player is still (also for #fcbayern) on the market. @SPORTBILD @BILD_Sport