Don’t believe rumors that Bayern Munich will pay €60 million for Achraf Hakimi

Diario AS’s headline story today is that Bayern Munich is “going for” Borussia Dortmund’s Achraf Hakimi (Diario AS). The Spanish sports paper claims that Hakimi is “one of the Germans’ priorities for the coming transfer window and they are prepared to spend big both on the transfer fee and on the player’s contract.”

Hakimi himself, who is at Dortmund merely on loan from Real Madrid, supposedly likes the idea of moving to Bayern Munich. AS says he would improve his own earnings dramatically with the €6-7 million that Bayern would pay him, and he would be able to stay in the Bundesliga, to which he has now completely adapted.

The catch? You may have noticed a player on Bayern’s roster this season named Benjamin Pavard. He has been outstanding and, together with Alphonso Davies, is one half of what many consider the best outside-back duo in the world. Bayern is not going to spend €60 million of their precious transfer budget for a player merely to compete with Pavard.

Bild reports that that is exactly the case in their own write-up of the story:

According to Sport Bild and Bild’s information, FC Bayern will not pay a transfer fee of €60 million. And: No player receives a guarantee as a starter at the Rekordmeister. Particularly since Munich is very satisfied with Benjamin Pavard (24), who arrived from Stuttgart prior to the season and has covered the right-back position.

Bayern is not going to buy Achraf Hakimi unless they Real Madrid decides to give Bayern an absurd discount. I don’t see that happening.

Hakimi’s agent also dismisses rumor

Literally while I was typing up this article, Kerry Hau of SPOX/GOAL shared a statement by Hakimi’s agent Alejandro Camaño on Twitter:

As previously, there is still nothing going on between Achraf Hakimi and FC Bayern, says Hakimi’s agent Alejandro Camaño: “That is not a topic. No one from FC Bayern or Real Madrid has spoken to me about a potential transfer by Achraf to FC Bayern”