Daily Schmankerl: AS Roma, two La Liga clubs hunting Bayern Munich’s Marc Roca; FC Barcelona set on Robert Lewandowski or Erling Haaland?; Declan Rice’s price going up?; and MORE!

Roma wants Roca (La Repubblica via @iMiaSanMia)

Marc Roca cannot find a way to get on the field consistently at Bayern Munich.

Considered a bargain at the time of his arrival in Germany back in 2020, it was always unclear exactly how Roca was going to find a pathway to being a contributor. Stuck behind starters Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka initially, Roca now finds himself as the club’s fifth option in the central midfield behind Jamal Musiala and Corentin Tolisso as well.

Even if Tolisso leaves next summer, Bayern Munich is reportedly eyeing several other options (including Ajax’s Ryan Gravenberch), who would also likely be placed ahead of Roca on depth chart.

Already linked to a move back to Spain, AS Roma is reportedly interested in find a spot for Roca on its roster. Two La Liga clubs allegedly want Roca, as well:

Sport Bild’s Christian Falk reiterated that Roca does not want to leave Bayern Munich — but also that the club would prefer to sell him. Regardless, the Rekordmeister does not think it will be easy to unload the Spaniard this summer.

Barca slashes Salah from wish list (Barca Universal)

FC Barcelona might have removed Liverpool’s Mo Salah from its potential transfer list. If true, Barca will now just focus on Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland:

Barcelona’s transfer policy in the upcoming summer transfer window should revolve around the acquisition of a star striker that can breed new life in the attacking department.

The club have identified three principal targets at the moment, with Erling Haaland topping the list, followed by Mohamed Salah and Robert Lewandowski. However, according to Diario AS journalist Javi Miguel, Barcelona have ruled out the signing of Salah. They want to focus on their two Bundesliga targets in the form of Haaland and Lewandowski.

While the exact reason behind Barça’s decision to abandon the pursuit of Salah remains unknown, it appears the club prefers a traditional number nine who can add the physical and aerial element to the team’s attacking play.

Of course, if you believe Sport (as captured by Sports Mole), Lewandowski has already informed Barca that we wants to play there next season:

Barcelona have been strongly linked with the forward in recent weeks, and according to Sport, Lewandowski has now told Xavi’s side that he wants to join them in the upcoming market.

Bavarian Podcast Works: Weekend Warm-up Podcast Season 1, Episode 43 (Bavarian Football Works)

There was plenty of Bayern Munich news for us to think about last week.

Even with the Bavarians sitting out during an international break, the news and rumors were flowing. Germany looked relatively good during its set of games against Israel and the Netherlands, too, so let’s dive in. This is what we have on tap for this episode:

• Serge Gnabry is unhappy, but still wants to re-sign with Bayern Munich — and why this could be the right time to part ways. David Alaba is campaigning for Gnabry to move to Real Madrid.
• Corentin Tolisso wanted €12 million!?
• Bayern Munich would rather have Noussair Mazraoui than a new center-back.
• Jamal Musiala’s star is exploding.
• Germany has a right-back problem.

Cost of Rice going up? (Sport1)

If any of the Premier League clubs want West Ham’s Declan Rice, they’ll have to pony up in a big way — €178 million:

Declan Rice has developed into one of the top sixes in the Premier League at West Ham United. Now coach David Moyes has set the price for the England international. “£100m was cheap last season. 150 is now the minimum,” he explained.

At the same time, Moyes made it clear that Rice is not for sale. The London club is using the same strategy as Tottenham Hotspur did with star striker Harry Kane.

Per Sky, West Ham United manager David Moyes, though, Rice won’t be going anywhere:

David Moyes has reiterated Declan Rice is not for sale and believes the West Ham midfielder has been England’s best player since the start of the season.

Speaking earlier this week, Moyes believes Rice is worth at least £150m but insists “England’s best performer” will not be sold this summer. I think he’s been England’s best performer from the Euros. The most consistent performer,” the West Ham boss told Sky Sports. “Some of the players are now playing very well, Harry Kane for example, but if you looked at it from the start of the season to where we are now, I’d put Declan in that very high consistent bracket.”

Bavarian Podcast Works: Postgame Show — Freiburg 1-4 Bayern Munich (Bavarian Football Works)

Bayern Munich and SC Freiburg played out a first half low in expected goals and low in actual action. Bayern seemed dominant but not really likely to score until Leon Goretzka opened the scoring.

We discuss the following in this podcast:

• Whether Bayern played with a back four or a back three
• The return of Leon Goretzka and his influence in midfield
• Nils Petersen’s moment
• The excellence of Thomas Müller
• Why Bayern might have gotten lucky today
• Why there seemed to be a lack of sharpness at times
• Making sense of the bizarre events toward the end
• The exclusion of Kevin Schade and Woo-yeong Jeong
• A thought or two on the upcoming Villarreal clash.

Bayern players recognized for efforts against Freiburg (kicker via @iMiaSanMia)

Several Bayern Munich players got a nod for their work against SC Freiburg. Joshua Kimmich was lauded by kicker:

Meanwhile, Lucas Hernandez and Serge Gnabry were honored by Sport Bild: