Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s agent squashes Qatar rumors, says he’s not leaving Bayern Munich

Last week, reports had suggested that Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was open to leaving Bayern Munich during this summer’s transfer window. Bild had speculated that he was ready to leave Julian Nagelsmann’s side and preferred a move to Qatar to play in the Qatar Stars League, or QSL for short. He’s currently got one year left on his contract, much like Robert Lewandowski, who’s made it clear he wants to leave the club this summer with Barcelona being his preferred destination.

In a recent appearance on Bild TV, as per @iMiaSanMia on Twitter, Choupo-Moting’s agent, Roger Wittmann denied the suggestion that the striker was open to leaving Bayern for Qatar this summer. “These reports are far-fetched. There’s no reason to say or write that. He’s staying at Bayern. His situation has been clarified internally,” he told Bild TV. As quickly as rumors of a potential departure from Munich for Choupo-Moting were circulated, Wittmann has made it abundantly clear that will not be the case.

There’s an understanding that, despite Lewandowski’s expected departure from the club this summer, Choupo-Moting might’ve felt slightly threatened by the potential arrivals of Sadio Mane from Liverpool and Sasa Kalajdzic from VfB Stuttgart. There is still a possibility that Bayern will get both players this summer, which would clearly affect Choupo-Moting’s prospect for more minutes. He’s spent the majority of his Bayern career playing second fiddle to Lewandowski aside from the stretch towards the end of the 2020/21 season when the Pole was dealing with his knee injury.

This past season, Choupo-Moting was able to tally nine goals and 5 assists from a total of 26 appearances across all competitions, though four of his goals did come in Bayern’s DFB-Pokal first round routing of Bremer SV. Still, though, his numbers exude a productive substitute behind Lewandowski and it would be beneficial for Bayern to still have him in the ranks even in the event Lewandowski leaves this summer. Nagelsmann will needed all the depth he can get if Bayern wants to push across all three fronts next season, especially with the World Cup coming just a few months into the Bundesliga season.