Aside from getting both Jonathan Tah and Tom Bischof in the door early enough for both to take part in the FIFA Club World Cup, Bayern Munich has already had to shift gears several times in the summer transfer window. As this past season headed towards its conclusion, it seemed as if Bayern were nailed on favorites to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, but the player has ultimately decided to join Liverpool instead after conversations with manager Arne Slot convinced him of what the Premier League champions have planned for him.
Bayern had their list of backup options going into the summer including RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons, Chelsea FC’s Christopher Nkunku, Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze, Brighton and Hove Albion’s Kaoru Mitoma, and Liverpool FC’s Cody Gakpo, but nothing has gotten to an advanced stage for any of the aforementioned players.
Bayern have also expressed interest in Paris Saint-Germain youngster Bradley Barcola, whose stock has taken a considerable rise with the Parisians having won a treble this season under Luis Enrique. Impressively, he finished the season with 21 goals and 19 assists from a total of 57 appearances across all competitions and one of those assists came in the 5-0 Champions League Final win over Inter Milan.
Per information from SportBild’s Christian Falk and Tobi Altschäffl (via @iMiaSanMia), Bayern sporting chief Max Eberl has had contact with some of Barcola’s representatives regarding a potential transfer of the player to Bayern this summer. He has always been on Bayern’s list of alternate options to Wirtz, however he would be one of the more difficult transfers to pull off at this point due to PSG’s resilience to selling him. Eberl is maintaining Bayern’s interested stance, though, and is determined to see if he can change PSG’s mind.
FC Bayern München v Paris Saint-Germain - UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD5 Photo by Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images
Barcola’s contract with the Ligue 1 champions currently runs through June 2028 and the 22-year-old is valuated at 70 million euros, with his release clause suspected to be right around that mark. With the season he just had, though, PSG are certainly in the driver’s seat in being able to drive up their asking price should they actually consider selling him this summer, whether it be to Bayern or someone else.