Report: Leon Goretzka’s camp irritated with Bayern Munich, but he wants to stay

It’s often said in certain situations that ignorance is bliss, but with the writing on the wall for Bayern Munich’s contract negotiations this summer, a lot of questions still need to be answered to provide some sort of reassurance.

Kinglsey Coman, Leon Goretzka, Niklas Sule, and Joshua Kimmich are all on upcoming expiring contracts and agreeing on new deals is proving more difficult than the club’s front office might’ve anticipated, partially due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as higher wages from recent signings like Leroy Sane.

Coman and Goretzka’s situations are proving to be the most difficult. Coman’s entourage have been vocal about wanting a move to the Premier League in England and the French winger isn’t in Julian Nagelsmann’s preferred starting eleven. For Goretzka, there was speculation that his camp had been asking for a €20 million salary and that both Real Madrid and Manchester United would be keen on signing him next year if Bayern can’t get him to sign a new deal. The premise of those claims was that he wanted to be paid as much as Bayern’s top earners, namely Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski, though the specific, €20 million fee claim was refuted by Az.

Now, Bild is reporting that Goretzka definitely wants to stay at Bayern, but that his entourage is irritated by how slowly negotiations have been progressing, or lack thereof. The club is currently juggling a bevy of contract negotiations for different players, most of which have not returned from their post-Euro 2020 holidays, which probably isn’t making matters any easier. There’s less than a month before Bayern’s competitive schedule opens up in the form of Bremer SV in the DFB-Pokal first round on August 6th.

Photo by Julian Finney - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

Of course, Bayern had just gone through this situation last season with David Alaba, who ultimately left to join Real Madrid after contract negotiations stalled. The club didn’t wanter to offer the Austrian the high wages him and his agent were asking for. Worryingly, Coman is represented by the same agent, Pini Zahavi, and likewise Lewandowski. For Bayern, it would be devastating to potentially lose a player of Goretzka’s caliber on a free transfer to either Real Madrid or Manchester United next season for not being able to get a new deal sorted. They’ll want to avoid an Alaba situation at all costs, no pun intended.

The silver lining is that Goretzka does want to stay at Bayern, but it will take some doing to agree on contractual terms that properly suit all parties. Nagelsmann’s vision for the squad and the future of the club likely has a decent amount to do with how Goretzka feels and the two will likely get the chance to speak at some point once the Euro 2020 stars return to Sabener Strasse.