Bayern Munich monitoring the possibility of signing Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Manu Koné

There were still areas Thomas Tuchel wanted to address for Bayern Munich before the summer transfer window close, but time ran out. Despite having a decent window of signings including the blockbuster move of Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur, Tuchel very much still would like to try to sign another midfielder as well as a right back; he has made this very clear to Bayern’s front office and hierarchy.

They came very close to signing Portuguese defensive midfielder João Palhinha, but a prospective deal fell through in the final hours of the summer window in Germany. Likewise, Tuchel was interested in signing Trevoh Chalobah from Chelsea, which could very well still happen in the January window.

Per information from Sport Bild’s Christian Falk (as per @iMiaSanMia), Bayern is monitoring the situation of Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder Manu Koné and the club has already contacted the player’s management to discuss a potential move at some point in the future. The 22-year old has been dealing with a knee injury for most of this season thus far, but has a proven track record of being on the the Bundesliga’s most versatile midfielders, and he has been quite the thorn in Bayern’s side in some of their previous encounters in both the domestic league and DFB-Pokal.

The midfielders current contract with Die Fohlen runs through the summer of 2025 plus the option to extend, so Bayern feel that he would be affordable if Gladbach was willing to sell him at some point before his contract is up. He has defensive tendencies, is an excellent ball-winner, and can be exactly what Tuchel is looking for with the midfield addition he wants to make. He has spoken in the past about how he wants to be able to add a defensive-minded midfielder to be able to give Joshua Kimmich more open license to roam forward and get involved in Bayern’s attack.

There was an understanding that Konrad Laimer could be that defensive midfielder Tuchel has wanted, but the former RB Leipzig man has already been a bit of a utility tool himself with the amount of times he has had to feature as a right back instead of a midfielder. Depending on who you would ask, he is either a box-to-box midfielder, a number 8, or a defensive midfielder; his roles are less concretely defined than Koné’s.