Daily Schmankerl: Bayern Munich to bid on Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni?; Liverpool eyeing Robert Lewandowski?; Erling Haaland to spurn Manchester City, PSG for Borussia Dortmund return?; FC Barcelona shying away from Chelsea’s Antonio Rüdiger?; & MORE

Bayern eyeing Bastoni again? (FC Inter News via @iMiaSanMia)

A little over a year ago, we saw a rumor break that Bayern Munich had interest in Inter Milan center-back Alessandro Bastoni. Now, those whispers are back and it appears that both Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur are scoping the talented 23-year-old Italian:

Bayern have contacted the agent of Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni (23) in the past few weeks to sound out a potential move. Bastoni’s priority is to stay at Inter - but if he were to leave, he would prefer joining Bayern over Tottenham, given the club’s status.

Inter are not considering selling Bastoni at the moment, but would potentially be open to a big offer for the defender given that they have important financial targets to meet in the summer, therefore one of their key players could be sacrificed.

Transfermarkt has Bastoni valued at €60 million, which would seemingly be way too much for Bayern Munich to pay for right now.

Have thoughts on Bastoni? Drop them in the comments below.

LFC to make a run at Lewy? (HITC)

Liverpool could be considering throwing its hat in the ring for Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski:

Now, it is all too easy to scoff at suggestions, via Polish publication Interia Sport, that Lewandowski could swap Munich for Merseyside in the summer. But it’s worth remembering that Liverpool took advantage of Thiago Alcantara’s contract situation when luring Lewandowski’s former Allianz Arena team-mate to Anfield less than two years ago.

Furthermore, a man who’s plundered a frankly ludicrous 47 goals in 41 games this season has an excellent relationship with Jurgen Klopp following their time together at Borussia Dortmund.

“The strongest number nine at the moment is Lewandowski,” says Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, rating the veteran centre-forward higher than the likes of Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Dusan Vlahovic and Karim Benzema.

Meanwhile, Sport Bild’s Christian Falk re-iterated that Lewandowski can see himself playing for FC Barcelona, but also that Bayern Munich wants to get a deal done:

Haaland’s choices are getting narrowed down...could he actually stay with BVB? (Sport1)

Despite Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain beating down his door, Erling Haaland’s agent, Mino Raiola, might have created a market that no one wants to play in. There is at least some thought that Haaland could return to Borussia Dortmund:

Manchester City? Paris St Germain? Or maybe Borussia Dortmund? When will there finally be clarity on BVB’s ongoing issue of Erling Haaland?

Nobody knows where the superstar from Norway will play next season - but that should change soon. As the Daily Mail reports , Haaland already has the plan. His contract in Dortmund runs until 2024, but he could leave BVB in the summer due to an agreement.

Accordingly, the 21-year-old wants to decide in the next two weeks where the journey is going. That would have been confirmed by sources close to the youngster. ManCity is confident that they will win the race for Haaland, PSG and FC Barcelona are still there.

As SPORT1 knows, a deal is by no means a done deal with City either - on the contrary: In the new edition of the BVB podcast ”Die Dortmund-Woche”, the two reporters Patrick Berger and Oliver Müller gave several reasons why the mega Deal of the summer suddenly wobbles.

The first reason is very simple: Haaland’s susceptibility to injury is not well received by potential customers. The health of his advisor Raiola is also currently making it difficult for Haaland to transfer.

ManCity is said to have submitted the best offer so far. According to SPORT1 information, the English offer a total of over 105 million euros, of which around 75 million (by agreement) would go directly to BVB. FC Barcelona is out of the running for financial reasons, as is Liverpool FC.

Haaland’s deal with BVB ends in 2024.

Bavarian Podcast Works: Preview Show — Arminia Bielefeld vs. Bayern Munich (Bavarian Football Works)

As much as many players, coaches, and fans might not be ready for it, Bayern Munich has to get back to work.

After a thoroughly disappointing elimination from the Champions League, Julian Nagelsmann is going to have to rally his troops to snap out of their funk and work on capturing another Bundesliga crown.

Fatigued, weary, and probably a little banged up, Bayern Munich will face Arminia Bielefeld in a match that the Bavarians need to have in order to keep their stranglehold on the table’s top position.

Let’s take a look at what is on tap for this episode:

• A quick chat on the after-effects of the Villarreal loss.
• A look at where each team is in the table and each squad’s recent form.
• A guess on how Nagelsmann is going to align his boys against Arminia Bielefeld.
• A prediction on the match.

Barca balking at move for Rüdiger (@cfbayern)

Chelsea FC defender and Germany international Antonio Rüdiger could see his options for a transfer dwindling:

Draxler, Kehrer both facing uncertain future with PSG (Sport1)

Germany internationals Julian Draxler and Thilo Kehrer could both be on the verge of leaving Paris Saint-Germain:

Will the PSG chapter in Julian Draxler’s career come to an end in the summer? For a long time, Draxler and his management kept saying that the 28-year-old was very happy in the Paris star ensemble despite his reserve role, but now there is apparently a turning point.

As the French journal L’Équipe reports, the German national player would like to leave PSG in the summer. Background: the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, for which the former Schalke could not be nominated. During the international break at the end of March, the midfielder had hinted that he was leaving the French capital.

“My situation in the club is not easy,” said Draxler after the international match against Israel on SPORT1 demand: “I lack the rhythm. I need to gain weight and play more games!”

Draxler’s contract runs until the summer of 2024, PSG is said to be willing to talk from an offer of 20 million euros.

According to the French trade journal, both Julian Draxler (28) and Thilo Kehrer (25) should be prank candidates and be able to leave PSG in the summer. An adequate offer provided. Both still have ongoing contracts. Draxler until 2024, Sweeper until 2023. Draxler had recently revealed his dissatisfaction with regard to the World Cup and lack of match practice and could force his departure. “My situation at the club is not easy. I know that I need rhythm, more match practice,” said the ex-Schalke player.

Bavarian Podcast Works: Postgame Show — Bayern Munich 1-1 Villarreal; Bayern loses on aggregate (Bavarian Football Works)

Bayern Munich unthinkably played to a 1-1 draw with Villarreal, which put the Spanish club through to the Champions League semifinals and sent the Bavarians packing from European play for the season.

There is a lot to unload from this match, so let’s get right to it. Here is what we have on tap for this episode:

• The starting XI featuring a back-three was probably the best call for Julian Nagelsmann to get things started — it worked in terms of putting Villarreal on its heels and applying massive amounts of pressure.
• Despite all that, Bayern Munich came away emptyhanded in the first half. There was plenty of urgency, but no end product.
• The elation of Robert Lewandowski’s second half goal and why it seemed like Bayern Munich was going to pull through.
• The big decision: Nagelsmann pulled Lucas Hernandez in favor of Alphonso Davies in a move that could define the young manager’s first season in Munich.
• The aftermath and why this season is a failure that was set up by the events of last season.

Hernandez, Coman named to UCL “Team of the Quarter-Finals” (@WhoScored)

Bayern Munich stars Kingsley Coman and Lucas Hernandez were named to WhoScored.com’s Champions League team of the Quarter-Finals (Inside note: Normally, I’d give this the U.S. English “quarterfinals”, but it’s the formal name of an “award”, so “Quarter-Finals” it is) :

(Please note a platform issues prevented the Schmankerl was being released at its normal time of 12AM EST)