Christian Falk’s Fact Files – Inside the Bellingham deal, Tuchel’s double Chelsea swoop, Bayern’s preferred striker target & more

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Today’s exclusive transfer round-up from Bundesliga insider Christian Falk, featuring Bayern Munich, Chelsea Dortmund, Leverkusen, Newcastle and more.

Today’s top stories:

Bayern Munich

Bayern are still looking for a striker and most recently they had scouts and technical director, Marco Neppe, at the Aston Villa game. They won’t be making an offer for Ollie Watkins, however, because they’ve decided to continue to focus on Eintracht Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani as a priority as well as seeking clarification on Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane’s intentions. Napoli’s Victor Osimhen is no longer a target for the club so Man United will be happy, though the Red Devils have an issue if they want to position themselves alongside the Bavarians for Kolo Muani.

It takes a lot of money to sign forwards of that calibre, and that’s why it could be interesting if Manchester United are actually taken over by Sheikh Jassim’s group. I heard there are three players on the Sheikh’s wish list with Kylian Mbappé at the top, as well as Eduardo Camavinga and Kingsley Coman.

I can tell you categorically that Bayern will not allow Coman to be sold, but the situation with Sadio Mané and Serge Gnabry is different. After his issue with Leroy Sané, Mané now has problems with his team-mates, and furthermore, his level of performance has disappointed Thomas Tuchel. Bayern are hoping for an offer from Chelsea – offers from Premier League clubs are welcome in Munich (!) – but there are no seriously interested parties at this stage. Any potential interest from Newcastle doesn’t appeal to Mané either.

The club would never sign Lionel Messi despite his potential availability. As well as his high salary, it would destroy the dressing room, which is why Bayern said no when Cristiano Ronaldo’s management team offered him to the club.

Bayern are also looking for midfield players and I recently wrote about the interest in Mateo Kovacic. The availability of Mason Mount is certainly of interest to Tuchel also, as he knows both players well from his time in London. Nestory Irankunda, a 17-year-old central defender who currently plays for Adelaide United, will be signed as an investment for the future, and the club are also keeping an eye on Ajax star, Edson Álvarez, who is also on Dortmund’s list as a replacement for Jude Bellingham.

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Another player who could make money for Bayern is Yann Sommer, a goalkeeper that Manchester United have previously been interested in. After a serious injury, Manuel Neuer is now back in training and if he’s considered fit enough for the coming season, Sommer is likely to be sold.

Bayer Leverkusen

May 25 could be a significant date for Bayer Leverkusen. It’s the Thursday before the last Bundesliga game of the season, and by that point, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti should have decided whether he wants to become Brazil’s national team coach.

“If he doesn’t answer by then, we’ll activate plan B,” Ednaldo Rodrigues, the Brazilian football federation’s president, announced.

What does Leverkusen have to do with it? Very simply, if Ancelotti agrees to manage the Seleção, Bayer will have cause to worry because Los Blancos have their former player, Xabi Alonso, in their sights as his successor and are following his every move. Leverkusen had planned to work with Alonso long-term, to see him develop their young talent and then reap the fruits of his labour.

During his time at Leverkusen you can see that this former world-class player first stabilised the team defensively, then helped them dominate the pitch and now lets them attack with pace and technique. Players like Florian Wirtz (who wants to stay for another season at Leverkusen), Jeremie Frimpong (a Manchester United target) and Moussa Diaby (a target for Newcastle) have all developed brilliant under Alonso which is why they are the focus of those Premier League clubs.

For Real’s president, Florentino Pérez, Alonso is the ideal solution. Within the club, their former goalscorer Raúl is considered the crown prince and next in line for the Santiago Bernabéu hot-seat, however, Pérez believes that Alonso has developed much quicker and would prefer him to take over from Don Carlo if that scenario came to pass.

Jude Bellingham

In the end, this saga is ending the way it had to. Liverpool don’t have the money for Jude Bellingham and Manchester City were never an option for the Dortmund player, so Real Madrid had a clear path. Transfer negotiations between the Spaniards and Bellingham‘s agent/father Mark are now really speeding up, however, no offer has yet been received from Real Madrid. Two of the parties agree, but nothing will happen without the agreement of the third. Behind closed doors, however, BVB bosses assume that things could be agreed with Real in the near future.

I heard that Bellingham imagined playing for Liverpool for a few years before making the move to Real Madrid. That was the career plan but Liverpool didn’t have the money for this deal. Bellingham has always thought highly of Los Blancos, and the talks with the Spaniards convinced him to move there, dissuading him from moving back to England in the process. Those responsible at Real are planning a visit to Dortmund, whilst Mark Bellingham, who manages his son’s career as director of his own company, ‘BelloBall LTD,’ definitely wants to finalise things this summer. It concerns high commission payments and the background to this is FIFA’s new statute, which is due to come into force on October 1. It will mean that only licensed player agents can issue invoices and they would only receive a share of three percent commission from the club and three percent from the player, based on their salary. The FIFA decision also applies to family members.

In the case of a transfer after this summer, Mark Bellingham would either have to take the difficult license test or hire a licensed consultant, and the former is out of the question as he wasn’t registered for the spring course. In simple terms: Real Madrid have already budgeted an annual salary of €20m (€100m over a five-year contract) for Bellingham, and would have to pay €3m to the licensed consultant, of which only a small part, minus taxes and deductibles, goes to Mark Bellingham – and which in turn would have to be taxed. According to the current rule, the commission is still at 10%, and would flow directly from the receiving club to Mark Bellingham and would only have to be taxed once. Neither Jude could wait for Liverpool in a sporting sense, nor it seems could his father Mark in a financial one.

Now Dortmund are waiting for Real Madrid’s offer.  They want a fixed amount of €120m which could rise to €150m, and as they’ve shown in the past with Dembele, Sancho and others, they have precise expectations when it comes to transfer fees and they’ll stick to them.

Eintracht Frankfurt

A second year year at Eintracht, and Oliver Glasner has reached his second final. The coach isn’t doing so well in the league, but after their Europa League triumph last season, he is now looking to win the DFB-Pokal. Against Stuttgart in the semi-final the coach silenced his critics, however, inside the club there is still a question mark concerning his position. Glasner isn’t ready to extend his contract, and he doesn’t get along well with sports director Markus Krösche. A victory in the DFB-Pokal final would be another result that encourages clubs like Tottenham to believe that he could be the right man for the job. It’s quietened down between Spurs and Julian Nagelsmann, even though the 35-year-old is still interested, so this could be Glasner’s chance.

Another argument for Glasner to leave the club is that it’s going to be very difficult to keep his team together. For example, Randal Kolo Muani is being hunted by top clubs like Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. With that potential departure in mind, 22-year-old Keito Nakamura is on the list as a potential replacement. At Austrian club Linz he scored 16 competitive goals this season and and assisted eight more. If Eintracht are able to get the €120m for Kolo Muani that they desire, then the fee for Nakamura would be easy to pay. William Pacho (€9m from Antwerp) and Omar Marmoush (free from Wolfsburg) have already been signed by the club too.

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Daichi Kamada and Evan Ndicka will most likely leave Eintracht on free transfers. Kamada should go to Benfica though Ndicka’s potential destination is unknown at present. Talks with Markus Krösche are now pending for Ndicka and it’s expected that Eintracht will withdraw their contract offer, just as they did previously with Kamada.

Last summer, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle were close to midfielder Djibril Sow, but this time around it’s West Ham doing the chasing. The Swiss star has been watched several times by the east Londoners, most recently in Dortmund by chief scout Rob Newman himself. The Hammers had already inquired about Sow in the winter window, but at that time sports director Krösche put a stop to it. Eintracht are now ready to talk, and would let Sow leave for €15m.

He’s the engine room in midfield who loves to drive his team forward – and he really wants to go to the Premier League. He joined Eintracht from Young Boys of Bern in the summer of 2019 for a fee of €14m and has played 154 competitive games for the club so far. Capped 36 times by the Swiss national team, he has eight goals and 13 assists at international level. He won two league titles with Young Boys and last season’s Europa League success is the greatest of his career to date.

Ivan Fresneda

Real Valladolid’s brilliant 18-year-old, Ivan Fresneda, who has a market value of €10m, has become an option for Dortmund. The right-back has a contract with the Spaniards until 2025 so he would cost around €20m, however, Arsenal are also pushing for his signature and could spend significantly more money.
Ivan Fresneda of Real Valladolid battles for the ball during the match against Athletic Club (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

If Dortmund do want to bring the player to the Bundesliga, in order to have enough money for him they’ll need to sell Thomas Meunier. The 31-year-old Belgian has a contract until 2024 but is only third-choice full-back and is also very injury-prone. No wonder that sports director Sebastian Kehl would like to save on his annual €7m salary, whilst also commanding a small fee for his services.

Jadon Sancho

Although there haven’t yet been any direct talks with Jadon Sancho (114 goals in 137 BVB games) about a summer transfer, Dortmund’s sports director Sebastian Kehl is always in contact with his advisors from the Project Elite Group. One thing is clear: there will definitely not be a buyback for the time being. Sancho (under contract at Man United until 2026) is still worth in the region of €55m and that would be too expensive for BVB. Therefore only a loan would be conceivable at this point, but to do this Sancho would have to cut his €21m yearly salary in half. Dortmund also wouldn’t pay the €14m expected for a year’s loan, though a maximum of €10m could be considered.

Werder Bremen

Werder Bremen are working on a replacement for national team striker, Niclas Füllkrug, a potential target for Newcastle. Justin Njinmah, a 22-year-old on loan until the end of the season at Borussia Dortmund II, has scored eleven goals in the third division. Head of football at Werder, Clemens Fritz, said about him: “Justin has developed really well. The fact that he is part of Werder’s professional squad for the coming season definitely plays a role in our thoughts.” However, there could be a problem down the road: Dortmund have a purchase option for just €1m for the Hamburg native. Manager, Frank Baumann, was at BVB II’s game against Elversberg on Saturday and chatted with Dortmund’s sports director Sebastian Kehl, so contact has at least been made.
More Stories Djibril Sow Harry Kane Ivan Fresneda Jadon Sancho Jude Bellingham Julian Nagelsmann Mason Mount Mateo Kovacic Oliver Glasner Randal Kolo Muani Sadio Mane Thomas Tuchel Victor Osimhen Xabi Alonso