Bavarian Football Works

Joao Palhinha is currently considered likely to make the permanent move to Tottenham Hotspur despite growing criticisms of his performances. The 30-year-old has struggled to live up to expectations in what has been a miserable season for Spurs, but remains keen to stick around if they stay up. Former Tottenham scout Mick Brown told Football Insider that Palhinha’s permanent move could depend on the fee involved, but negotiations are taking place in the background.

Spurs will make a final decision on the Portugal international’s future after the season ends, but are already putting plans in place for the transfer window.

“I thought Palhinha would be an excellent signing for Tottenham,” Brown told Football Insider. “After what he showed at Fulham, earning that move to Bayern Munich, I expected him to come back in and show that again at Tottenham. I must admit, that has not gone to plan for him or for Tottenham. Every time I listen to pundits speaking about him, they tear him apart.

“Jamie Carragher, for example, said he hasn’t got the quality to play in the Premier League, and I thought that was harsh based on the things I’ve seen. But from Tottenham’s point of view, they can’t listen to what pundits are saying, they’re going to make a decision about him at the end of the season. If they stay in the Premier League, I’m sure he will want to make the move, and the manager will assess his squad to see what they can do.

“From what I’ve heard, they’ve already been in negotiations behind the scenes, maybe to bring the price down or find a deal that suits them a bit better. So with Tottenham at the moment you just have to wait and see, but they have to make decisions based on their own views, not those of people outside the club.”

Leeds United are among the clubs said to be enquiring about the availability of Bayern Munich defender Hiroki Ito. The 26-year-old has been on the books of Bayern since 2024, when a reported €30m (£26m) was paid to prise him from Stuttgart.

According to SportsBoom, Leeds are among those eyeing Ito with the summer transfer window just around the corner. Bayern are not believed to have placed Ito on the transfer list, although it has been suggested they will be open to offers.

West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion have also been linked with the Japan international, who plays with Leeds midfielder Ao Tanaka on the international stage. The report has claimed an offer in the region of €25m (£21.6m) is likely to be accepted.

Bayern Munich midfielder João Palhinha’s loan move to Tottenham Hotspur started full of promise, but it has become a nightmare. A coaching change later, Palhinha finds himself in the middle of a serious relegation fight that is going right down to the wire.

And Bayern — where the Portuguese international did not and likely would not have a place in the side were he to return — likely had hopes for Spurs to exercise the buy option in the loan deal.

Perhaps surprisingly, that possibility has not yet been extinguished. Per Sky DE journalist Florian Plettenberg, as captured by @iMiaSanMia:

Tottenham are generally happy with João Palhinha and would like to keep him. However, they’re currently unwilling to pay the €25m (plus bonuses) option to buy - and want to renegotiate a lower fee with Bayern. A final decision is expected at the end of the season [@Plettigoal]

Would the Bavarians be satisfied with a lower amount — and do they have much leverage in the matter?

If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…

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Leading up to Bayern Munich’s match against Mainz 05 this weekend, Bayern’s sporting director, Christoph Freund, was asked about João Palhinha and his situation at Tottenham. Despite being one of the most valuable clubs in England’s Premier League, Spurs find themselves in the relegation zone going into the last stretch of matches.

Freund could not comment on the future of Palinha at this time, stating, “The situation at Tottenham is difficult. João is a fighter, he had a great start at Tottenham. The focus is entirely on avoiding relegation; Tottenham know what they have in him. But the situation there is very tense at the moment, so it’s difficult to say anything about the future right now.” (as recorded by @iMiaSanMia)

Whether or not Palhinha had heard these words from Freund before his match with Tottenham on Saturday, his performance showed that he was focused on helping Spurs avoid relegation. Away to Wolverhampton, he came off the bench and scored the match’s only goal. This took Tottenham out of the relegation zone momentarily, but a late West Ham goal gave them a win and keep them two points ahead of their crosstown rival with four matches to play.

🚨💣 EXCL | Sebastian Kehl is now the leading candidate for a role as Tottenham’s new director.

Spurs’ board want him to rebuild the team alongside Johan Lange. Kehl’s career as a top player, his management skills and his extensive international network are highly valued within the club and during the conversations.

However, a quick decision does not appear imminent. Sources close to Kehl indicate that the former BVB sporting director has not yet decided whether he wants to return to the game immediately or take some time off first.

✅ It is TRUE: Brighton are in the lead for Said El Mala. But it could be that other interested clubs still have a chance in this race, like Newcastle and Chelsea. That’s because the Brighton offer was about €35m plus €4m in add-ons, and Cologne want €50m. If they don’t get this money, perhaps they’ll be open to talking with Chelsea again. This could happen. At the moment, the way is clear – El Mala looks very likely to be playing Premier League football next season. Now we have to see whether he ends up at Brighton, which is the current plan, or if FC Köln say it won’t work because of the money on the table.

“Sarr’s value is growing and there’s a real possibility of him moving on this summer whether they go down or not. Real Madrid, PSG, and Bayern Munich are all big fans of the player, and offers of around £50m would probably be enough,” another added.

Tottenham are facing an increasingly real threat of relegation this season and that’s inevitably started to lead to serious behind-the-scenes conversations about players who could be snapped up by bigger clubs this summer.

While there are clearly a lot of players in this squad that have under-performed, there is also some appreciation for a few of their younger talents who could still go on to improve a lot in the right conditions, so that creates the potential for one or two major summer transfer sagas in the months ahead.

One name being mentioned a lot is Pape Matar Sarr, with several of my sources in the industry telling me that Spurs are aware of growing interest in the 23-year-old from some of Europe’s elite clubs.

“Spurs insist Sarr is not for sale, but privately they know that big clubs are going to come calling, and some may already have done so,” one source said.

❌ It is NOT TRUE: Brighton are considering a move for Manuel Neuer if he leaves Bayern this summer. The German will decide whether he stays for another year in Munich or quits at the end of the season. I spoke with him after the match against Real. He wants to make a decision in the relatively near future. The game itself was really tough for him. The first two goals from Real were, I’m afraid to say, two mistakes from Manuel Neuer. But the match before he was brilliant, and he was good in the second half of the second leg in Munich. I think he’s still having fun, and I heard that if he’s still enjoying himself, he’ll want to do another year at Bayern. We have to see! He’s set to become a father again; his wife’s pregnant with his second child. Perhaps that’s why he doesn’t want to play the World Cup. Perhaps he wants to be a family guy. But I think, as we saw yesterday in the match against Real Madrid, Neuer’s having so much fun that he could very well play one more year.

Wesley Sneijder has launched a scathing attack on Real Madrid’s players following their explosive Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich. The former Bernabeu midfielder criticised the squad’s decision to target the referee instead of holding Eduardo Camavinga accountable for his “stupid” dismissal during the quarter-final second leg.

Questioning the team’s choice to confront the referee after the final whistle, Sneijder said on Ziggo Sport: “This should not happen at this level. It is stupidity. We were all expecting extra time; you could feel it from both teams. It is incomprehensible that he does this while already having a yellow card in his pocket. There is something I don’t understand at all: that they are angry with the referee when what they should be doing is going into the dressing room and speaking with Camavinga, not the official.”

🚨🔵 EXCL | Noah #Atubolu is on Brighton’s shortlist for next season - not their top option, but still quite high on the list. Brighton are preparing for a potential departure of Bart Verbruggen.

With Harry Kane playing at Bayern Munich, former Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has very well-rounded familiarity with the England skipper’s evolution. There are few managers that know more about the Bundesliga, what it takes to succeed in the league, and how difficult it is to best Bayern than Klopp, who also came up against Kane via Tottenham Hotspur on several occasions during his tenure on Merseyside.

In total, Klopp has faced Kane 17 times as a manager and the German manager will certainly remember Kane’s brace at Wembley back in 2017 when the national stadium was Tottenham’s home during their new stadium’s build phase. The striker has scored nine times against Liverpool in the Premier League, and Klopp was able to witness almost all of them.

In a recent appearance on the Peter Crouch Podcast while Klopp was back in Liverpool for the Legends match vs the Dortmund legends, Klopp had high praises for Kane, who has been on another level since he’s joined Bayern from Tottenham. Before Crouch could even complete his question about what Kane’s achieved in the Bundesliga and at Bayern, Klopp explained how much he admired the England skipper.

“So he’s top, top, top level. He understands the game probably better than anybody right at this moment in time. He sees things early. His finishing was always fantastic, but now he knows exactly like — it’s like when he gets the ball, it’ like, in a good way, slow motion. Oh look (ball flight noise), and then the ball is going, it’s ridiculous. And he enjoys life, but in Munich, especially, it’s a good city for that. I think it’s a good match. It’s a really good match. And when he signed for them, and for the amount of money, I think it was like, whoa…I don’t think you’ll get a lot of that back to be honest, but he performs. He’s performing top, top level — world class player, I have to say,” Klopp enthused (via @iMiaSanMia).

Klopp and Kane are one of those dream ‘what if’ scenarios as far as top players playing under top managers, but it is hard to argue that everything hasn’t panned out exactly how it should for the striker under Vincent Kompany at Bayern. He’s on 49 goals and five assists from a total of 41 appearances across all competitions and well on his way to collecting more winner’s medals this season and he’ll certainly be in the running for a Ballon d’Or.

If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…

Former Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel has reportedly been linked to Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund — enough for his representatives to respond to the rumors.

The 20-year-old is now a Tottenham Hotspur player, but Spurs’ shambles of a season — and his own struggles for playing time and even for making the Champions League squad — have pointed to a summer exit. It just may not be back to the Bundesliga.

“I don’t know if Dortmund really want Mathys, but honestly, a return to Bayern is the only way Mathys would go back to Germany,” Tel’s agent, Gadiri Camara said in comments captured by Tz journalist Philipp Kessler (via @iMiaSanMia). “He can’t play for any other club in the Bundesliga. He loves FC Bayern.”

That is admirable loyalty from a bright young player who sparkled in moments in Germany, and more importantly, has made great efforts to connect with the fanbase at both Bayern and Tottenham. Spurs’ current predicament is hardly one of his own making, but nevertheless, Tel still faces an uncertain future. Could he wind up back at Bayern — someday? It may require taking a wise intermediate step and making the most of it.

If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…

Bayern Munich will push to sign signing 19-year-old Tottenham defensive talent Luka Vuskovic if Kim Min-jae departs for a suitable offer in the summer.

Bayern Munich are ready to make a push for Luka Vuskovic with the view of replacing current first-team star Kim Min-jae. The South Korean defender is currently not seen as more than a rotational option, and Vincent Kompany seemingly wants someone to challenge his first-choice centre-backs, which has seen the club linked with the 19-year-old Tottenham prodigy.

Kim Min-jae has a few suitors, with Chelsea and Tottenham keeping close tabs on his situation ahead of the summer. Bayern Munich would consider reasonable offers for the South Korean. Once he is sold, they will push to sign Tottenham wonderkid Luka Vuskovic, who has continued to impress with his performances for Hamburger in the Bundesliga.

The Bavarian giants are not alone in the race for the 19-year-old Tottenham prodigy, with rivals Borussia Dortmund also in the mix for the Croat. However, Bayern Munich have an appeal of their own when it comes to luring in top players, and an approach would certainly entice Vuskovic towards a move.

✅ It is TRUE: Palhinha could depart Tottenham in the summer. There is a discussion ongoing at Bayern Munich because they wanted to sell the player to Spurs (as he’s currently on loan). They’d hoped the Premier League club would end up triggering the release clause (about €30m [£25.8m]). It could be that Tottenham won’t look to sign him at the moment, whilst the future of the club remains very open. From Bayern’s perspective, they’re talking about selling him to another Premier League club if he does come back to Munich. He’s played well in England, and other clubs are watching him and seeing that he’s not the problem at Tottenham. So, Bayern are optimistic that Palhinha won’t return to Germany in the summer and he’ll still be playing in the Premier League next season. But nobody knows if it will still be at Tottenham!

❌ It is NOT TRUE: Bayern Munich are interested in Elliot Anderson. He’s too expensive! It’s said that he’ll cost €80m [£68.9m], which is just too much money for Bayern Munich, and they don’t need a player in this position. It’s true that Leon Goretzka will leave the club this summer, but they’re not looking for a successor. They have Tom Bischoff, Joshua Kimmich, Aleksandar Pavlovic, and now they’re bringing back Noël Aséko. He’s a talent at the club who was on loan at Hannover. The 20-year-old had a release clause, and Hannover knew that Bayern wanted him back, so they triggered the release clause for €1m. But FC Bayern also have a clause that they can buy him back for €2.5m – so they bought him back!

There’s also another talent to think about in Santos Daiber, and he can play in this position. So, there are many options. Don’t forget that Bayern Munich want to sign Givairo Read. There are talks with Rotterdam. Perhaps they can sign him to play at right-back, which will allow Konrad Laimer to return to the midfield. Many options for Bayern, so they don’t need a new midfielder per se.

AC Milan are interested in AZ Alkmaar and Republic of Ireland international forward Troy Parrott, according to The Independent. The 24-year-old is one of the names being considered by the Rossoneri amid their search for a striker, and the Eredivisie club would reportedly be open to parting ways with him if they receive an offer worth in the region of £25 million. Parrott, who scored a dramatic hat trick in the 3-2 FIFA World Cup qualifier win against Hungary in November to secure a place in this month’s playoffs, has directly contributed to 17 goals in 22 league matches this season.

❌ It is NOT TRUE: Bayern are keen on Tottenham star Archie Gray (19). Bayern Munich would be happy to have a player like the teenager in their squad, but the position is the problem. The club doesn’t want to make a transfer in this position at the moment. It wouldn’t be cheap for starters, and this is the main problem, as Max Eberl is not allowed to pay a lot of money! But I heard that Borussia Dortmund have an eye on Gray, as Julian Brandt is set to call time on his career in Dortmund at the end of the season in search of a new club. This is why BVB are searching for a new player in this position, like Archie Gray. He could be the successor to Brandt at Dortmund, but not at Bayern Munich.

Borussia Dortmund have been closely monitoring the development of FC Köln winger Said El Mala, BILD reports. Internally, bosses at the German club have discussed a summer move for El Mala, although strong competition is expected from Bayern Munich. The 19-year-old has enjoyed a breakout campaign in the Bundesliga this season, where he has scored eight goals in 25 appearances. He is under contract at Köln until June 2030.

AC Milan and Inter are among the clubs who will try to compete with Arsenal to sign Leon Goretzka as a free agent when the midfielder’s Bayern Munich contract expires in the summer, as reported by Calciomercato. Milan have already initiated contact with the 31-year-old’s entourage, while Inter are hoping to complete a move that would be similar to the ones they have previously completed for Hakan Çalhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Even so, Arsenal are the frontrunners to complete a deal.

For Vlahovic, who will train at Continassa today with those who didn’t play at the Bluenergy Stadium against Udinese, these are also crucial days for his contract renewal: the player and the club are rapidly moving towards a signature . This is a way to secure a striker who is essential to Spalletti’s style of football and crucial to DV9’s rapprochement with the Bianconeri.

✅ It is TRUE: Bayern Munich was watching Jonathan David before his move to Juventus. But then they decided that he’s not a Bayern player, which is why they didn’t go against Juve in the poker. I don’t think they’ll go back in this direction and change their mind, as he didn’t show the necessary qualities in Italy either! At the moment, I don’t think this is an idea Bayern are considering.