Daily Schmankerl: Will 2021 be Bayern Munich’s chance to land Erling Haaland?; Philippe Coutinho’s injury to potentially cost Liverpool €20 million?; Thomas Tuchel to Barca?; Juan Bernat eyeing PSG extension; Julian Draxler to be set free; and MORE!

Would Bayern make its bid for Haaland this summer? (Tz)

Erling Haaland has exploded onto just about every major club’s transfer list. French portal le10sport captured a report from L’Equipe which stated that Paris Saint-Germain...and Bayern Munich are among those interested in the young Norwegian:

Nasser Al-Khelaïfi has fallen under the spell of the Norwegian striker, who is under contract until 2024 with Borussia Dortmund. But PSG would not be the only one to follow the performances of Haaland. FC Barcelona is interested, as is Bayern Munich. But to believe the L’Equipe, the Haaland clan would see him evolve at Real Madrid.

Interestingly, Tz noted that a le10sport report last week indicated that Borussia Dortmund might consider selling Haaland for €100 million this summer and then quickly examined if that would even be feasible for the Bavarians given the financial climate:

The competition for a transfer poker would, of course, be enormous. And the question arises whether FC Bayern itself would pay a three-digit million amount for an exceptional striker of his quality.

Dropping 100 million for Haaland in the summer of 2021 does seem a little hasty — even for a talent like the Norwegian. And that does not even consider how much the price would rise for Borussia Dortmund to sell the player to a rival.

So...is Bayern Munich interested in Haaland? I’d say yes.

Would the Bavarians drop €100 million on the Norwegian this summer? It seems very unlikely.

The rumored release clause for 2022 still seems more like the proper timeframe for Bayern Munich — if the player waits that long to move.

Latest injury to Coutinho could be costly to LFC (AS)

Could former Bayern Munich midfielder Philippe Coutinho have helped FC Barcelona suffering a knee injury? It sure looks like it.

Coutinho, who spent last season on loan to Bayern Munich, originally transferred to FC Barcelona from Liverpool, who placed a pesky — and costly — little clause in the Brazilian’s deal. If Coutinho makes 100 or more appearances, Barca would have to pay Liverpool €20 million. Right now, Coutinho is 10 games off that total.

Coutinho tore his meniscus against Eibar, which might have Jurgen Klopp and company sweating a bit:

Coutinho’s injury is bad news for Barça but also for Liverpool. After the operation, Doctor José Gonzalez confirmed to AS that the midfielder will be out for between four and five months, which means he will likely miss the rest of the season and could also jeopardize one of the add-ons signed by both clubs when Coutinho moved from Anfield to Barcelona in 2018.

In the agreement for Coutinho’s transfer to Barcelona for 120 million euros plus 40 in add-ons, some of those objectives have been reached - but one that still remains concerns the bonus which Barcelona must pay Liverpool for a specified number of games played. Under the terms of the agreement, Barca must pay Liverpool 20 million euros when Coutinho makes his 100th first team appearance. As it stands, he has played 90 games for the azulgranas but this latest injury complicates matters. Even if Coutinho is able to return in Spring, there would be a dozen games left to play at most - but he will be coming back after a lengthy time out and would not necessarily be back in the side immediately.

If he fails to reach 100 games for Barcelona this season, is looks unlikely that Coutinho ever will as the club plans to sell him over the summer - regardless of who is elected president as the decision was made by the board.

That sure would be a shame if Liverpool didn’t collect that money. Football Espana is reporting that Coutinho is expected to miss three months.

Tuchel to Barca? (@cfbayern)

While Mino Raiola quickly snuffed out any thought that FC Barcelona’s elections might play a role in where Erling Haaland spends his future, Sport Bild chief Christian Falk think Thomas Tuchel’s next gig could actually be in play:

Zidane wants Son (Sport Bild)

It seems as if Real Madrid wants to be very busy in the transfer market. With Los Blancos rumored to be among the contenders for Bayern Munich’s David Alaba, Sport Bild is reporting that Zinedine Zidane wants Tottenham Hotspur’s Heung-Min Son:

According to English media reports, the French coach is hot for the former Bundesliga player, who played for HSV until 2013 and then for Bayer Leverkusen until 2015. He is said to have instructed the club management to explore the possibilities of a summer transfer, it is said.

At Real, according to the report, he could succeed the disappointing Eden Hazard. The Belgian moved to Los Blancos in 2019 for around 115 million and has a contract there until 2024.

Bernat closing in on extension with PSG, while Draxler will not be renewed (Get French Football News)

Juan Bernat’s rumored contract extension with Paris Saint-Germain is reportedly inching closer to completion:

Left-back Juan Bernat, winger Angel di Maria and attacking midfielder Julian Draxler’s contracts all expire in June 2021. For the first two, extension talks have been well underway with Sporting Director Leonardo for several months. Bernat, 27, currently out with a knee injury, is now very close to reaching an extension agreement. It is expected that the ex-Bayern Munich man will sign a new deal in the coming weeks. For Di Maria, the situation is less clear – the Argentinian was held in very high esteem by Thomas Tuchel, making him a key man during the German’s reign, playing 103 matches in 2.5 seasons. The negotiations around extending have been a little less lukewarm – Di Maria turns 33 in February and is waiting to make a decision – he wants to speak to new manager Mauricio Pochettino first.

As for Draxler, I had a bad take on what should happen if he becomes a free agent — and it looks like that is exactly what is going to happen:

Les Parisiens are expected not to offer the German international a new deal – he is on €600k a month and the club is looking to minimize its wage bill.

The film study part of these training sessions must be wild (@dw_sports)