Bayern Munich are going to have a hard time of convincing strikers to make the Allianz Arena their home in 2025.
That’s an entirely understandable reality Christoph Freund and his recruitment team will be getting to grips with.
When you’ve got a world-class first-choice striker like Harry Kane in the ranks – who has registered 32 goal contributions in 26 Bundesliga games – who would want to compete?
Since signing in 2023, the Englishman has only missed six games for the German top-flight side – not exactly encouraging statistics for a prospective Bayern signing!
Bayern waiting on Mathys Tel decision
It’s a little awkward for the Bavarians at this point in time.
Max Eberl has been tasked with addressing the wage bill and there’s an acceptance that Vincent Kompany’s side has to sell players before bolstering the squad.
Indeed, Christian Falk has exclusively informed CF Bayern Insider that Bayern are waiting to see if Tottenham will sign Mathys Tel permanently this summer.
“Bayern have to wait until Tottenham make a decision about Mathys Tel. They hope that Spurs will go for the buy option worth €60m [£52.3m]. You have to see also the very big loan fee (up to €10m [£8.7m]), but they can take this away from the end price if they sign Tel on a permanent deal. Bayern will get €10m either way provided that he fulfils his targets on loan,” the Head of Football at the BILD Group said.
Presuming the North London-based outfit hands over a sizeable amount of cold, hard cash for the 19-year-old’s services, there are some intriguing avenues we could look to go down.
Falk went on to add that both Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko remain on the shortlist, but Kane’s ongoing presence in Munich may complicate matters.
“There is a shortlist of potential options to act as back-up to Harry Kane. Benjamin Sesko is on the list, Viktor Gyokeres also, and they have their eye on Moise Kean (Fiorentina) and Jonathan Burkardt (Mainz),” he said.
“Burkardt has a release clause in his contract, so he’s not so expensive. He’s doing really well at Mainz, but Bayern are aware of the injury issues.
“There’s a big discussion ongoing with Tim Kleindienst in terms of whether it’s time for him to move to a bigger club, but Julian Naglesmann, the Bundestrainer, advised him to stay put at Gladbach, or go to a team where he’ll get regular playing time, if he wants to be with the national team. Going to Bayern means going to a team where he won’t get many minutes whilst Harry Kane is with the side.
“It’s also worth noting that Frankfurt are very close to getting Burkardt, whilst Sesko prefers a move to the Premier League, thanks to Kane’s presence in Munich.”
Harry Kane’s backup
Barring an unlikely lapse in judgement, we’re expecting Tottenham to send Tel packing back to Germany this summer.
We just don’t see how Daniel Levy will approve a €60m outlay on a striker who’s only played 10 games (502 minutes) for the club since joining on loan in February.
The teenager’s numbers have hardly been inspiring either, with two goals registered (in the Premier League and an FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa respectively) in that time.
It may very well be the case that Tel will have to be content with playing second fiddle to Harry Kane if we can’t manage to move the forward on elsewhere in the summer.
Ultimately, the England international isn’t going anywhere in a hurry!
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