Daily Schmankerl: Tottenham Hotspur scoping Bayern Munich loanee Alexander Nübel; Niko Kovac denies Everton links; PSG’s Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid for €350M (!?); Matthijs de Ligt to stay at Juventus another year?; and MORE!

Spurs to get serious on Nübel pursuit? (Daily Express)

Bayern Munich loanee Alexander Nübel is having a strong season at AS Monaco and is reportedly drawing serious interest from Tottenham Hotspur:

Tottenham are looking to snap up Bayern Munich goalkeeper Alexander Nübel this summer. That would suggest that Antonio Conte will not take up an option to sign Pierluigi Gollini at the end of the season.

Tottenham are interested in signing Bayern Munich star Nübel in the summer transfer window. After already penning Hugo Lloris to a new contract, that would seem to signal the end of the road for Gollini - who is on loan from Atalanta.

Nübel is currently also out on loan, joining Monaco last year where his old boss Niko Kovac was before he was sacked in January. Nevertheless, the German goalkeeper has performed well for the Ligue 1 side - keeping 10 clean sheets in 38 matches.

Kovac denies links to Toffees (HITC)

Former Bayern Munich boss Niko Kovac is enjoying his time away from the game after being (unfairly) dismissed from AS Monaco. Even he could not understand the stories linking him to Everton, though:

“I was very surprised that my name was reported everywhere,” said Kovac. “Nobody spoke to me. I want to do something again from the summer and not replace someone in the middle. (Club football) is really very intense. Especially when you play every three days, travel a lot and also have to watch other games. So I said to myself that I needed some free time. I want to do everything that I couldn’t do in the past.”

ICYMI: Bavarian Podcast Works: Preview Show — Bayern Munich vs RB Salzburg (Bavarian Football Works)

The Chaaaaaaaampionnnnssssssss!!!!! Yes, the UCL is back, and I can already hear the anthem. Bayern Munich is going to face a talented RB Salzburg side, and unless the lineup is legit, it is going to get exposed by Salzburg’s attack, which features players Bayern has been linked to in the past - Karim Adeyemi and Brenden Aaronson. With Goretzka, Neuer, Davies, and Musiala all out, Nagelsmann definitely faces a tricky challenge and needs to make the right choices in both defense and midfield to churn out a victory.

The game against Bochum was one to forget, and consolidating a spot in the top 8 of the UCL with a dominant, resounding victory against Salzburg in the first leg could do a lot to make amends and help us quickly forget that disaster class. The stage has been set. We roll.

Here are the main talking points of the podcast:

• Salzburg’s form heading into the game
• Nagelsmann’s tactics, formation, and what needs tweaking
• A look at some of the talented Salzburg players and potential game-changers
• The defensive conundrum, and possible picks for selection
• Bayern lineup predictions
• Some Gnabry and Upamecano criticism
• A final scoreline prediction

Freiburg acknowledges Schlotterbeck had interest in January (The Shields Gazette)

SC Freiburg acknowledged that some “big clubs” were interested in center-back Nico Schlotterbeck:

Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United have all been alerted to the possible availability of defender Nico Schlotterbeck this summer. Schlotterbeck has impressed at Freiburg this season and could be on the move this summer with Freiburg CEO Jochen Saier revealing to Sky Germany that the defender’s departure from the club is a ‘possibility’ this summer:

“There were big clubs [interested in January]. It was clear to us that we wouldn’t let him go in the winter. In the summer, there’s definitely a possibility.”

Of course, two of those big clubs were rumored to be Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

De Ligt could ink one-year extension with Juve (Football Italia)

Matthijs de Ligt has been linked (again) to Bayern Munich, but Juventus might give the Dutchman a stop-gap option with a one-year contract extension to give the player and the club another season to figure things out together.

Bayern Munich, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, and Paris Saint-Germain are all rumored to be interested in de Ligt:

Juventus are reportedly preparing a one-year contract extension for Matthijs de Ligt, to avoid his sale in the summer. The Netherlands international sees his contract expire in June 2024, but according to multiple reports in Italy, the Old Lady directors are already thinking about his long-term future in Turin.

Juventus need to lower their wage bill and Tuttosport reports that it will be difficult for the Serie A giants to offer a higher salary to the former Ajax star, who is already the highest earner in Turin with an €8m-a-year contract plus €4m add-ons.

Chelsea, Bayern Munich, PSG and Barcelona are reportedly interested in the 22-year-old. Despite not being able to match a €125m release clause included in De Ligt’s contract from the summer, the European giants are ready to make a big-money offer to get the Dutch defender at the end of the season. Several top Italian agents, including Massimiliano Allegri’s representative Giovanni Branchini, spoke to Tuttosport about the De Ligt’s future: “As usual, the price will be decided by the calibre of the club interested in signing him,” Branchini said.

However, according to Tuttosport, Juventus could offer a one-year contract to De Ligt, extending his potential stay in Turin by one more season and postponing his possible exit to 2023. The Bianconeri are monitoring Torino’s Gleison Bremer and Lille’s Sven Botman as potential replacements for De Ligt. The Serie A giants also signed 23-year-old Federico Gatti from Frosinone in January and the Italy defender will move to Turin in the summer.

€350M for Mbappe? (Sport1)

Real Madrid might have to pony up a total package of €350 million to get Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe:

Superstar Kylian Mbappé has been linked with a move to Real Madrid for years. The Frenchman wanted to leave Paris Saint-Germain for the Spanish capital last summer, but PSG officials put a stop to the move.

Mbappé may switch to the royals for a free transfer next summer. The Spanish newspaper ABC is now reporting on the terms already negotiated between the players and the club. According to the report, the 23-year-old will receive a gross annual salary of 50 million euros (25 million euros net) at Real Madrid and a bonus of 50 million euros. The France international is set to sign a six-year deal at Madrid, which is worth a total of €350m.

That is....a lot. Like...too much.

Klinsmann doubts Haaland-Lewy could co-exist (Sport1)

Former Bayern Munich player Jurgen Klinsmann does not think Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland would be able to play together:

For months there has been a puzzle as to which club BVB star Erling Haaland will play for in the coming years. In addition to FC Bayern, the Norwegian is also regularly associated with Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester City.

Haaland can leave BVB in the summer thanks to an exit clause for around 75 million euros. Now the former German national coach Jürgen Klinsmann has commented on the future of the 21-year-old. The ex-Hertha coach finds it difficult to imagine Haaland at FC Bayern, at least as long as Robert Lewandowski is still playing for the German record champions.

“It’s not a perfect combination for me,” Klinsmann clarified in an interview with the French sports newspaper L’Equipe. Both strikers are “two nines who would stand on each other’s feet” and “be in the same place at the same time”.

If FC Bayern should even consider signing the Norwegian international, “they would certainly wait until Lewandowski is gone.” The Pole is still under contract with Bayern until June 2023, but the Munich team want to extend the contract with the star striker in the long term.

Klinsmann will forget more footy than I will ever know, but I actually think both players are smart enough to make it work if they had to. Neither Lewandowski, nor Haaland is a tap-in merchant solely dependent on others to set them up.

ICYMI: Bavarian Podcast Works Season 4, Episode 24 (Bavarian Football Works)

There’s no sugarcoating this. Bayern Munich, aside from Robert Lewandowski’s brace, was dreadful in the 4-2 loss at VfL Bochum. Bayern fans across the world are still trying to digest just what, exactly, happened at the Ruhrstadion as the lead over Borussia Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga table was reduced to six points due to their 3-0 win over Union Berlin.

For the third time in the span of as many weeks, Julian Nagelsmann made the decision to go with an all-out attacking lineup, starting all of Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane, Serge Gnabry, and Kingsley Coman together. It worked against Hertha Berlin and (just barely) RB Leipzig, but it completely backfired against Bochum, who were lethal on the counter attack and made Bayern pay for their mistakes and poor defending. Joshua Kimmich acting as the lone central midfielder just in front of Niklas Sule, Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Hernandez, and Benjamin Pavard just didn’t work and there are a lot of question marks around what lineup Nagelsmann will put out against RB Salzburg in the Champions League this week.

There really wasn’t a whole lot of positives to take away from the past week for Bayern, but in this episode of Bavarian Podcast Works, Tom and Schnitzel discuss:

• The loss in Bochum
• The cons of Nagelsmann’s all-out attacking lineup
• What will it take for some of the players like Marc Roca, Marcel Sabitzer, and Omar Richards to get more minutes
• Upamecano’s shortcomings and bad patch of form
• Potential Sule replacements and how paramount it will be for Bayern to find a top caliber replacement
• Serge Gnabry’s form and his forthcoming contract extension
• A BOLD opinion that Schnitzel has on Gnabry

BE SURE to let us know what you think about Schnitzel’s bold opinion on Gnabry in the comments section of this post. We’re really curious to see how people feel about this particular topic of discussion.