Bayern Munich’s interest in Dodô not completely extinct

When Hansi Flick was manager of Bayern Munich, the club had expressed concrete interest in Shakhtar Donetsk’s Dodô when they were in the market for a right back. At the time, they were also linked with Sergino Dest, who wound up joining Barcelona, and Norwich City’s Max Aarons. At the time, Flick and Bayern were put off by Donetsk’s valuation of the Brazilian defender and they did not want to pay too high of a fee to acquire his services. Eventually, they wound up signing Bouna Sarr just before the transfer deadline in the summer (fall) of 2020 from Olympique Marseille.

Even still, there is potential interest from Bayern in the Brazilian, per new information from Bild (via FCB Inside). Bayern could make a move for him since FIFA has suspended domestic competition in Ukraine as a result of the ongoing invasion of the country by Russia. FIFA has also allowed players based in both Russia and Ukraine to leave their clubs effective immediately so that they can find other clubs to play for elsewhere outside of the normal winter and summer transfer windows. Most players based in either country are proactively looking for new clubs at this point in time.

Per FIFA’s guidelines, this temporary transfer period for Russia and Ukraine based players will go until the beginning of April, and Bild speculates that a handful of stars are looking specifically to play in the Bundesliga.

Bayern would still have to pay a transfer fee as well as Dodô’s wages if they were to sign him during this temporary transfer window for affected players. Based off of most of the other transfer rumors for Bayern in recent weeks, a significant transfer fee doesn’t seem like it’s something that’s realistically in the cards, despite there still being a paramount need to find a replacement for Niklas Sule. Dodô, in theory, would provide an earlier solution, whether that means he’d sign a long-term contract, or short term, but it’s still an option for Bayern to consider.