Daily Schmankerl: Real Madrid still eyeing Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry; FC Barcelona to offer Sergino Dest as part of swap deal for Robert Lewandowski; Arsenal’s Bernd Leno back to Germany?; Barca has another contingency plan for striker; and MORE!

Madrid still interested in Gnabry (@Plettigoal)

According to Sky journalist Florian Plettenberg, Real Madrid might not be out of the running for Bayern Munich star Serge Gnabry.

Right now, Los Blancos are just on the outside looking in, but should Gnabry’s negotiations with Bayern Munich falter, Real Madrid could be positioned to unleash their master recruiter, David Alaba, to help lure the Germany international to Spain:

What is unclear about Plettenberg’s report is if Real Madrid would be willing to play the rumored €15 million salary that Gnabry might want. The previous reports we saw indicated that Gnabry’s pay request would be an issue.

Dest part of Barca swap for Lewy? (HITC)

We have seen many stories about FC Barcelona’s interest in Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski. What we have not seen as of yet — until now — is a rumor stating that Barca would seek to leverage Bayern Munich’s alleged interest in Sergino Dest as part of a deal for Lewandowski:

FC Barcelona are reportedly open to using rumoured Leeds United target Sergino Dest as leverage in an attempt to sign Bayern Munich superstar Robert Lewandowski.

According to Sport, Xavi Hernandez is a huge fan of the record-breaking Bundesliga striker, who could be set to leave Germany in the next 12 months with Bayern struggling to sign Lewandowski down to a new contract.

The Poland international, who already earns a reported £370,000-a-week according to the Sun, will be a free agent in 2023 if his contract is not renewed. As such, fears that Lewandowski could leave Bayern are growing, and Barcelona now have a plan to sign the striker.

As per Sport, the La Liga side are open to using Dest as leverage to tempt Bayern in selling Lewandowski, with the right-back also a target for Leeds heading into the summer transfer window.

However, this latest update could scupper any of Leeds’ plans to sign Dest, with Barcelona now open to sending the 21-year-old to Bayern in exchange for Lewandowski, with the defender linked to the Bundesliga giants before his move to Catalonia.

Bavarian Podcast Works Season 4, Episode 29 (Bavarian Football Works)

What a week, huh? Bayern Munich returned to action with a dominant (if controversial) 4-1 win over SC Freiburg, taking their lead in the Bundesliga to 9 points with only 6 games left to play. With the Champions League quarter finals now upon us, there’s plenty to talk about as we prepare for the business end of the season.

In this episode, Ineednoname and Schnitzel discuss:

• Is the Bundesliga title race done and dusted?
• Complaining about how bad Borussia Dortmund have been this season.
• INNN makes a bold prediction about the title race. Does Schnitzel agree?
• Why RB Leipzig will probably be Bayern’s main challenger for the title next season.
• Skip to around 11 minutes if you’re only here for the Villarreal preview.
• How might Julian Nagelsmann line up against them? Talking about lineup options and the availability of Alphonso Davies, Leon Goretzka, and Robert Lewandowski.
• About the opponents: How did Villarreal beat Juventus to make it to the UCL quarters?
• Schnitzel tries to force INNN to make a prediction about the game.
• Should Leroy Sane play on the right or left against Villarreal?
• Will Niklas Sule return to the starting XI? Who does he push out — Upamecano or Nianzou?
• Closing out with our review of Germany’s World Cup group. Can Germany get out of this one?

Barca back-up plan is...Lacazatte? (Sports Bible)

Should FC Barcelona fail to land Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski or Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland, the club will reportedly look to Arsenal FC’s Alexandre Lacazette:

Barcelona are reportedly considering a move for Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette if they are unable to sign Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich.

Lewandowski’s current deal with Bayern is due to expire in 2023 and talks have stalled over a contract extension for the Poland international.

According to reports in Spain, the German champions are only willing to offer the 33-year-old a one-year extension to his current deal.

Gnabry recognized for Freiburg effort (@WhoScored)

Serge Gnabry picked up another honor for his work against SC Freiburg in being recognized by WhoScored.com on their Bundesliga Team of the Week:

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.

Leno back to Germany? (Sky)

It looks like Bernd Leno wants to return to Germany:

Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno is ready to snub Newcastle and return to Germany this summer.

Where could Leno wind up? Options could be tough to find if Leno is looking for a starting role on a contending team. The goalkeeping situation in the Bundesliga is pretty strong. If Leno wants to accept a back-up role, however, he could have some intriguing options.

Scorched Earth (@swearimnotpaul)

Ronan Murphy only left ashes here:

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.