Report: Serge Gnabry contract talks still on hold at Bayern Munich

Per a new report from Sport Bild (as captured by @iMiaSanMia), contract extension talks between Bayern Munich and Serge Gnabry are temporarily on hold for the time being. Talks have already been ongoing for several months by this point, but no agreement has been reached and discussions are going to be put on hold.

Per the report, both Gnabry and the club are entirely open, and even expected to eventually get a new deal over the line prior to his current contract expiring. The reason for temporarily putting talks on hold has to do primarily with salary negotiations. It’s suggested that Gnabry and his representatives would be asking for a salary of roughly 15 million euros per year, which is a fee Bayern is relatively reluctant to match. They’ve already tied down Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, and Kingsley Coman to new deals and still have to navigate through extensions for Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, and Robert Lewandowski in addition to Gnabry. For Bayern, this is proving to be an increasingly difficult task in negotiating salaries for most of their stars with upcoming expiring contracts despite the openness of all of said players wanting to extend their stay at the club.

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At this juncture, it remains unclear just when, exactly, contract talks will resume with Gnabry and his representatives, but there is no indication that there’s been any significant road blocks. More importantly, there’s been no signal of a breakdown in the relationship between the player and the club, so it will really just come down to the salary negotiations when push comes to shove.

While there’s no clear date in mind to resume talks with Gnabry, Bayern would want to do everything in their power to get his new deal sorted prior to next season starting; a season when his contract will be expiring at its conclusion. This is especially important considering the handful of top European clubs that are currently monitoring Gnabry’s situation and would pounce at the opportunity to potential sign him on a free transfer next summer. Real Madrid is one of the clubs that has been mentioned in various media reports, but the understanding at Bayern is that Gnabry definitely wants to stay.