Daily Schmankerl: Things between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies appear to be serious; Arsenal, Newcastle eye BVB’s Julian Brandt; Juventus star Federico Chiesa to England?; Is İlkay FC Barcelona’s Gündoğan needed with Germany?; + MORE!

Davies situation is getting serious (@FabrizioRomano)

For all of the talk surrounding a potential move by Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies to Real Madrid, some folks have not taken it too seriously.

Now, though, Fabrizio Romano has weighed in and, well, this is probably the official warning that things might be in motion:

Certainly, anything can happen from this point forward — including a contract extension at Bayern Munich. However, things are starting to look and feel a little different when it comes to projecting Davies’ future with the Bavarians.

Much like the David Alaba, Benjamin Pavard, Niklas Süle, Robert Lewandowski, and Lucas Hernandez situations, it just feels like Davies wants to move on.

Gunners, Toon eyeing Brandt? (The Mirror)

Arsenal FC and Newcastle United could be looking at Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Brandt as a possibility to inject some life into their respective squads:

Borussia Dortmund attacking midfielder Julian Brandt is wanted by Arsenal and Newcastle. Eddie Howe’s Toon have had a close-up view of the 27-year-old Germany star in their two Champions League games, Brandt scoring in Tuesday night’s 2-0 defeat of the Magpies.

They like what they have seen, also the case with the Gunners. Arsenal have been tracking Brandt although Dortmund have so far refused to consider any bids for a player they secured for around £22million.

Last summer he signed an extension to his contract taking him to June 2026, but that hasn’t stopped some Premier League big boys continuing to court him. It’s unlikely Dortmund – with their Champions League ambitions still intact – will be tempted to sell in the January window.

Brandt is a versatile talent, but also has the propensity to disappear. In addition, he was shown on the German national team’s version of Amazon Prime’s “All or Nothing” being late to a meeting and adding to the chaos that existed during the World Cup in Qatar.

Of course, you cannot judge a man by his worst moments, but it does not feel like Brandt would be successful in the Premier League.

Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Podcast Season 3, Episode 18 (Bavarian Football Works)

Bayern Munich was sleepwalking for the majority of its Champions League match against Galatasaray, but did pull out a victory that frustrated many fans.

The Bavarians eventually snared a 2-1 win ahead of this weekend’s Bundesliga showdown with Heidenheim. We will cover ALL of that, plus take a look at those pesky transfer rumors surrounding Joshua Kimmich and our old friend Robert Lewandowski’s recent struggles with FC Barcelona.

Here is the full rundown of what we have on tap for this edition of the Weekend Warm-up Podcast:

• A breakdown of the Bayern Munich vs. Galatasaray match.
• A preview of Bayern Munich vs. Heidenheim — will Thomas Tuchel learn his lesson with injuries?
• Thoughts on Robert Lewandowski’s struggles with FC Barcelona and those links to MLS (do I have to fire up another post like this?)
• How legit are the Joshua Kimmich transfer rumors?

Hamann cracks Gündoğan (Barca News Network)

Didi Hamann put FC Barcelona star and Germany international İlkay Gündoğan on full blast regarding his role with the German national team.

“Gündogan played excellently at City, a team that has eighty percent of the ball. There, he was able to exploit his qualities, but Germany has a different style of play. We’re not as dominant,” said Hamann. “Adding everything up, maybe ten out of his seventy international matches have been good. If you name him captain, you lose opportunities. He needs to play further ahead, but we have (Jamal) Musiala and (Florian) Wirtz there. Both of them need to play. Sané and Gnabry also need to play with their speed and class. It could now happen that some of them might have to be on the bench.”

Götze says Ribéry was best he ever played with (RTL via @iMiaSanMia)

Eintracht Frankfurt’s Mario Götze was recently asked who the best player was that he ever played with and the answer might (or might not) surprise you.

“For me it was Franck Ribéry. He was top three in the Ballon d’Or back then. Of course (Lionel) Messi and (Cristiano) Ronaldo are in a different league, but when we played together, Franck was definitely in the top three,” Götze remarked.

Bavarian Podcast Works: Postgame Show — Bayern Munich 4-2 FC Heidenheim (Bavarian Football Works)

Bayern Munich ran out eventual winners over FC Heidenheim today in a game of ups and downs, with the Bavarians going 2-0 up in the first half only to see the lead vanish in minutes, but fighting back in the last stretch to bag all three points.

There were some clear issues with the squad on display, but some individual performances that still stood out. In this podcast, we discuss the game and parts of the bigger picture, specifically:

• The lineups and setups of the team.
• The fascinating rotations of the Bayern Munich XI, such as the inclusion of Bouna Sarr.
• The visible fatigue in the games of certain players who have been over-worked.
• The tweaked midfield set-up and how it evolved over the course of the game.
• The worrying and celebrated individual performances from the difference-makers today.
• The state of Bayern’s title CHALLENGE in the face of a Bayer Leverkusen super-team.

Chiesa could get big interest from England (Calciomercato via 90Min.com)

It is hard to say exactly how fractured things might be between Federico Chiesa and Juventus (maybe not at all...who knows?), but the attacker has been in the rumor mill for quite a while now and he will get interest from Premier League clubs if he opts to leave Italy:

Premier League clubs are circling around Federico Chiesa, whose latest round of contract talks with Juventus went unsuccessfully.

Klose likes Tel in joker role (@kessler_philipp)

Former Bayern Munich and Germany striker Miroslav Klose loves Mathys Tel as an option off of Bayern Munich’s bench.

“One who always comes as a joker and scores. Similar to Nils Petersen earlier at SC Freiburg. You need players like that. Tel stands at the back, doesn’t put you in a bad mood. He has a good character and brings strong ones Performances when he plays,” Klose told Tz’s Philipp Kessler.

Tel worked his magic again this weekend with an assist as a sub in Bayern Munich’s 4-2 win over Heidenheim.