Daily Schmankerl: Bayern admits Thiago wants Liverpool, Messi back in training, Man City wants Koulibaly, and MORE!

Bayern Munich aren’t even trying to keep Thiago Alcantara anymore

It looks like Thiago’s time at Bayern Munich is coming to an end. The Spaniard is rumored to be looking for a new challenge, with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool being top of the list. It’s basically been admitted by all the club bosses at this point. Speaking to Bild, Hansi Flick said as much:

Bayern allegedly want 30 million euros for the player, who’s in the last year of his contract. It’s impossible to keep him now, I guess we should just hope that Thiago gives it his all in the remaining Champions League games he has left at this club.

Leo Messi is back in training

Ahead of Bayern’s impending UCL clash with Barcelona, Leo Messi and Ousmane Dembele were spotted taking part in team training. It looks like both players will be available for the Bayern game. No word if Dembele will start, but Messi surely will. Hope Flick’s got something planned.

Manchester City offers an obscene amount of money for Koulibaly

According to Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla, Man City have offered 63 million (currency not specified, presumably euros) plus bonuses to Napoli for Koulibaly. This is on top of the 45m they’ve already spent acquiring Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake.

Everyone knows that City have had defensive issues this season, especially with Aymeric Laporte missing many games due to injury. However, this is yet another instance of Pep Guardiola spending obscene amounts of money on defenders alone. We get that he has basically no limits on spending while at City, but it does put a dent in his reputation as “the best manager in the world”. If Guardiola continues down this path, he may become remembered as a checkbook manager instead.

Jonathan David officially joins Lille OSC

Canadian MNT youngster Jonathan David has officially joined Lille OSC from Gent. He eclipses Alphonso Davies as the most expensive Canadian player in the world.

Plenty of Bundesliga clubs were interested in David, but he chose Ligue 1 instead. Could he still make the switch to Germany someday? He’s still very young, so maybe. We’ll watch his career with great interest.

FC Koln stands up to clowns

That’s all for today, folks!