Daily Schmankerl: Lothar Matthäus hints at flexibility for Bayern Munich under Julian Nagelsmann; Chelsea, PSG, Bayern linked to Achraf Hakimi again; Updates on Sergio Busquets and Jerome Boateng; Final thoughts on Mare of Easttown; & MORE!

Matthäus predicting changes at Bayern (Bundesliga.com)

Bayern Munich legend Lothar Matthäus is never short on opinions and he has some strong thoughts on Julian Nagelsmann’s upcoming tenure in Bavaria.

“I think he has to improve the team, not only the individual players,” Matthäus said. “If you’ve followed Bayern for the last two years with Hansi Flick as the head coach, you see them always playing the same system: 4-2-3-1. This was the system from Bayern in each game and nothing changed. With Nagelsmann, they will change. He moves constantly from a three-man defense to four-man and even five-man. Sometimes he’s playing with two strikers, sometimes only with one striker. This will change at Bayern, but with the players, he has to get them behind him in the same way that Hansi Flick was doing and then he will have a great time in Munich.”

Despite that, however, Matthäus is expecting Nagelsmann to get the support of the club, the players, and the fans.

“Bayern is the special club in Germany - you can read it in the history of the Bundesliga,” Matthäus said. “Being at Bayern is fantastic when you win. It’s the best job in the world for Nagelsmann to be the head coach at Bayern because everyone will support him and you have to win titles, which he hasn’t done, so he has to learn that.”

Busquets rumors shot down (@altobelli13)

Sport Bild reporter Tobias Altschäffl dug into those reports coming out of Spain stating that Bayern Munich had interest in FC Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets.

Not shockingly, Altschäffl found no merit in the stories:

For good measure, Altschäffl’s colleague Christian Falk flexxxed on the rumor as well:

Hakimi again linked with Bayern, Chelsea, and PSG (PSG Talk)

Bayern Munich’s alleged interest in Inter Milan’s Achraf Hakimi has been denied repeatedly by German outlets, but reports keep coming out.

The obvious destination for Hakimi is Paris Saint-German, but several sources still have Bayern Munich and Chelsea as contenders — as unbelievable as that might be for the Bavarians:

According to Corriere dello Sport (via Paris Fans), Inter Milan wants to receive as much money as possible from the sale of Hakimi. Despite receiving a €70-million offer, including bonuses from the capital club, the Serie A side wants to raise the price to €80-million.

With various reports suggesting that Hakimi has agreed to a contract with the French giants, how likely will clubs like Bayern Munich and Chelsea decide to enter the auction knowing that the defender is one step away from joining PSG.

Even transfer guru Fabrizio Romano references Bayern Munich in his latest tweet on the topic:

The bottom line for Bayern Munich is that the club has consistently stated that it does not have the budget to afford any significant transfer.

More Boateng rumors shot down (@cfbayern)

Falk was back to — again — deny reports stating that AS Monaco wants to bring in Jerome Boateng:

Szoboszlai’s incredibly bad luck continues (@swearimnotpaul)

Hungary will be missing one of its major weapons for the European Championships as Dominik Szoboszlai is still battling an injury:

Mare of Easttown: A Final Take (Bavarian Football Works)

Without a blog post for the Weekend Warm-up for the offseason (catch the podcast here), I guess the Schmankerl is as good a place as any to recap HBO’s best series since True Detective season three.

To put it simply, Mare of Easttown was tremendous and here’s why:

• More than anything, you want to feel like your investment into watching a series was worth it...and with Mare of Easttown, it certainly was. I won’t delve into the details of the final episode, but more than anything it was satisfying — an area where many HBO shows have faltered in the past.
• The acting in the show was top-notch and Kate Winslet and Jean Smart should get every single award available.
• I can’t say enough about Smart. She is like sooooooooo many Delco grandmas I have known over the years.
• Evan Peters was fantastic as well and he apparently was a big Wawa fan...so bonus points for that. It’s a shame his character was not in in the final episodes because he was a breath of fresh air — and he provided an all-time great drunk scene.
• David Denman’s transformation from Roy in The Office to Frank Sheehan was incredible. For those wondering where you saw him before....that was it.
• Overall, the story was fun, filled with red herrings, and a intriguing from start to finish. Sure, there were a lot of “sad” or “down” moments in the show, but those complexities within the plot and the characters were what made the show so special. I’ve already admitted that I’m a bit biased given they filmed it in my surrounding area (have you that....and that Lukas Klostermann was a track star?), but I’d have been a fan if they filmed it in downtown Dortmund. What a series...I could not give it a higher recommendation.

If you have not put in the time to watch it, you should. It’s a rare home run all the way through for HBO.