Daily Schmankerl: Tottenham offers contract to American youth prospect Taylor Booth, Bayern II captain Feldhahn confident of extension, and more!

Tottenham Hotspur offers American youth Taylor Booth contract (Football Insider)

A “Spurs source” has informed Football Insider that the club is offering American Taylor Booth, signed with Bayern Munich until 2022, a “lucrative professional contract” in hope of luring him away from Munich.

Booth, who hails from Utah, signed a three-year contract with Bayern Munich in 2019 and currently plays for the club’s U19 team, which was just declared the champion of the A-Junioren Bundesliga South/Southwest after the season was canceled.

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Booth plays as a central midfielder and logged five assists in 1056 minutes, playing in 11 matches in the A-Junioren Bundesliga and another 5 in the UEFA Youth League. He has played for the USA at every level up to the U-19.

Football Insider writes, “Significantly, Booth is concerned at the first-team pathway at the German giants, who are on course for yet another Bundesliga title after beating Borussia Dortmund yesterday.”

Tottenham apparently believes the success of homegrown stars like Harry Kane and Harry Winks might persuade Booth to take his talents to their academy. It seems unlikely, however, that Bayern Munich would let Booth depart, let alone prematurely, if they believe he has the potential to reach the first team.

Booth turns 19 on the last day of the month, May 31. “But he is ambitious and eager to make his mark in professional football rather than kick his heels at age-group level,” Football Insider writes. If Booth is looking for inspiration, however, he need look no farther than 19-year-old Alphonso Davies, who has made the jump from the academy to the professionals this year. And Bayern has repeatedly declared their intention to cultivate youth players for the first team.

Bayern donates €20,000 to all 18 clubs in the Bayern Regionalliga and more from waived season ticket refunds (FCBayern.com)

Bayern Munich reported in a press release that it has donated €20,000 to each club in the Regionalliga Bayern — of which there are 18 — and a further €100,000 to the Bavarian State Sports Association. The club also donated €10,000 to all 35 of the clubs that make up the Bayernliga Nord and Bayernliga Süd.

It is not only the donations themselves that are remarkable, but their source as well: the money in question derived from the value of season tickets that the holders made available to the FC Bayern Hilfe e.V. charity, through which the club has been giving back during the coronavirus pandemic.

The chairman of the charity, executive board member Karl Hopfner, said: “On behalf of FC Bayern Hilfe eV, I would like to thank our amazing fans once again. Our supporters from all around the ground, from the standing end to business seats to the owners of the executive boxes, are making use of the ticket refund waivers — it’s a wonderful sign of solidarity. Football is an essential part of social life. At the clubs, children and youths learn fundamental values such as team spirit, respect and tolerance. It is very important to us that, together with our fans, we can use these funds to help stabilise the football landscape in Bavaria in these difficult times during the pandemic.”

Bayern II captain Nicolas Feldhahn optimistic of extending (FCBayern.com)

Bayern II captain Nicolas Feldhahn gave an interview on the club’s German website that ranged over a variety of topics, from training and staying fit and focused during the suspension of play to preparing for the team’s upcoming game against FC Ingolstadt and his own feelings as a native Münchner playing for FC Bayern.

About Bayern II’s immediate goal, Feldhahn said, “We want to lock up the non-relegation as quickly as possible. For that, we’ll probably need at least 45 or 46 points. Then we’ll hopefully pick up where we left off before the break.”

Bayern is currently in 7th place with 41 points in the 3.Liga.

Feldhahn said, “Our very young team wants to show itself with a lot of jeu d’esprit and is simply raring to play. But we can show even more of our qualities on the pitch.”

At 33 years old, Feldhahn is one of a handful of senior members allowed to play alongside the amateurs, who are technically a U-23 team. He believes the current team is “definitely” the most talented he has played on in his five years with Bayern II.

Photo by Thomas F. Starke/Bongarts/Getty Images

Feldhahn said: “In the last five years, the quality of the players coming from the U-19s has improved. For many of them, the 3.Liga is only a stepping stone, because they can definitely make it in higher leagues. That’s also why we have been so successful in a very difficult league with a very young team. It’s really fun to play with the boys, even if its the first year in the adult league for for many of them. Even the quality of training is significantly higher than before.”

Born in Munich and captain of Bayern II since 2018, Feldhahn is genuinely happy to be a part of the Bayern family. He sounds almost like a proud foster father to his teammates:

“I am simply very proud to play for FC Bayern and also to see at first hand how the boys are developing. Things have gone perfectly for me personally and I’m super happy here. We’re playing now as the only second team in the 3.Liga. Especially during the break in the season, I noticed again what opportunities we have here at Bayern with its outstanding infrastructure, for instance at the Campus, and with the awesome level of the boys.”

Feldhahn’s contract expires this summer, but he is very optimistic that he and the club will continue their collaboration. He said, “It looks good. We’re in good talks; both sides want to continue the collaboration.”

No Meisterfeier at Marienplatz if Bayern Munich wins the league this year (Bild)

If, as many expect after the club’s 1-0 victory over Dortmund this past Tuesday, Bayern Munich wins the Bundesliga for the eighth time in a row, the club and fans will not be able to celebrate as usual in the heart of Munich at Marienplatz. The mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, confirmed to Bild that the conventional celebration is “inconceivable” this year.

Reiter said, “The dear tradition of the annual championship celebration of FC Bayern at Marienplatz is unfortunately unthinkable this year — not for lack of athletic successes by the Rekordmeister, but rather obviously because of limitations imposed by the coronavirus.”

The mayor added, “I’m sure that we will find an appropriate honor together with the club, if Bayern should win the title for the eighth time in a row.”

So the Premier League is coming back on June 17 (booo)

Yeah, you might have heard, the Premier League will presumably restart on June 17 with Manchester City vs Arsenal and Aston Villa vs Sheffield United. Can’t wait.

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Anyway, here’s a pretty neat Twitter thread with a fun look at some of the old-school ways the clubs marketed themselves:

Danish fans sign into massive Zoom meeting for Danish Superliga