untung99.biz: Weekend Warmup Bayern Munich has internal strife over holding midfield position Manuel Neuer hasnt trained in a week yikes Thro

For months now, Bayern Munich has reportedly been on the hunt for a defensive midfielder.

While there were legitimate links to former West Ham star Declan Rice (who eventually transferred to Arsenal FC), the Bavarians have not gotten serious about obtaining a new player for the position just yet…much to the chagrin of coach Thomas Tuchel, per recent reports.

In fact, Sport Bild’s Tobi Altschäffl (as captured by @iMiaSanMia) says that things are heating up internally as Tuchel and supervisory board member Uli Hoeneß are not in alignment on the issue. Hoeneß thinks the needs for a new No. 6 is not urgent and that players on the roster can fill the void (most likely, Joshua Kimmich):

The topic of a defensive 6 is controversial internally. Tuchel even sees it as his highest priority because none of the current midfielders in the squad can fill in this role. The bosses, particularly Hoeneß, believe it’s not urgent, their priority is a top striker.

Tuchel has a history of butting heads with his superiors, but this could be a major issue in Bavaria. Kimmich promptly walked away from an interview earlier this week when asked about Tuchel’s desire to bring in a true holding midfielder.

With the Germany international already linked to Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and Liverpool FC, it might behoove everyone to get into a room and talk about how to best move forward.

Kimmich was dutifully playing his role as the No. 6 until last season when it appeared he had more of a desire to push further up the field. Often, this created a gap in front of the defense that was exposed. Seeing that, Tuchel looks like he just wants to allow Kimmich play as a No. 8, but push Leon Goretzka, Konrad Laimer, and Ryan Gravenberch to the side in favor of player who can be more of a destroyer that has no interest in going box-to-box.

According to Abendzeitung’s Maximilian Koch (as captured by @iMiaSanMia), “Signing a holding midfielder would only be an option for Bayern if one of the current midfielders left the club. At the moment, there’s no solution in sight.”

We can assume that Tuchel is not onboard with that at all.

So…what happens next?

It appears very unlikely that Bayern Munich will make a big midfield signing if it finalizes a deal for Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane. The cost for center-back Kim Min-jae, plus an expected nine-figure sum that will have to be doled out for Kane, will like push the Bavarians past their limit of comfort for spending this summer.

With Manuel Neuer’s situation suddenly more complicated (see below), Bayern Munich probably cannot afford (literally and figuratively) to make a splurge on a defensive midfielder.

---

Goretzka’s situation is in limbo

It is tough to describe Leon Goretzka’s situation at Bayern Munich these days.

Sad…maybe, that’s the word? I don’t know.

Regardless, the Germany international is holding out hope that he can make it under Thomas Tuchel, who does not appear to want any part of Goretzka in his starting midfield per Abendzeitung’s (as captured by @iMiaSanMia):

Despite not starting in any of the preseason games so far, Leon Goretzka still believes in his chances under Thomas Tuchel and remains optimistic he would prevail in the duel against Konrad Laimer. Leaving Bayern is not an option for Goretzka.

Manchester United are interested in Goretzka, but have so far not made a concrete inquiry. Goretzka is not interested in talks with other clubs anyway — he wants to stay and has not received any signals from the club that they’re not planning with him.

West Ham and — as noted above — Manchester United have both been linked to Goretzka, who desperately wants to stay and fight for his position. For whatever reason, Tuchel has not been on #TeamLeon from the get-go and now things could be coming to a head.

Should Goretzka stay or should he go?

---

Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Podcast: Season 3, Episode 4

Bayern Munich closed down its preseason tour in great fashion with a comeback win over Liverpool FC, but the end result was not nearly important as what we learned about this team over the past two weeks.

Why waste any time? Let’s get chatting on a number of topics. Here is what we have on tap:

• An in depth look at what we learned from Bayern Munich’s preseason tour, including why the attack could be positioned to explode, how the midfield might be developing into a mess, and why the defense might take some time to gel.
• Why the news about Manuel Neuer’s secret surgery is very concerning.
• Who helped themselves — Josip Stanišić and Serge Gnabry
• Who might be in trouble on Bayern Munich’s roster — Leon Goretzka, Dayot Upamecano, Noussair Mazraoui…and Paul Wanner.
• Recapping the latest transfer news.

---

Song of the Week: “The Whole of the Moon” by The Waterboys

I likely would have not used “The Whole of the Moon” by The Waterboys as the song of the week prior to last week. Not because it’s not a good song or anything, but it has just not been on my radar in years — there thousands of good songs, I will likely never get to in this space.

However, I came across this video of the boys from Acoustic Odds hitting a pub and cranking it out while downing a few beers. I have to admit, it is pretty spectacular. Maybe I just like people drinking a few beers and having fun, but I thought it was awesome:

Here is the original version by The Waterboys:

---

First Messi, now Raccoons are taking over MLS

Real Salt Lake has a problem…with raccoons.

During Thursday’s weather-related cancellation, a raccoon invaded the press box…by falling through the ceiling:

If you want more raccoon, we’ve got more raccoon:

The raccoon caused all of this havoc during a rain delay for Real Salt Lake’s Leagues Cup match vs. Club Leon on Thursday night. After a little mayhem, the racoon was eventually captured…alas, not by our own LK Chuggz, who would have been BFW’s MVP of 2023 if he was involved in this craziness.

Carry on my wayward son.

---

Neuer’s completely normal rehab is just fine…right?

Manuel Neuer’s status is not getting enough attention and maybe that is just how Bayern Munich likes it at this point.

According to Abendzeitung’s Maximilian Koch (as captured by @iMiaSanMia), the goalkeeper underwent a — previously unreported — surgery at the end of May. While it was described as a “routine” procedure, it still threw Neuer off-course in his rehab:

Manuel Neuer underwent an operation on May 29th, removing a screw from his injured right leg. It was a routine procedure, but meant that Neuer had to slow down training a bit in the weeks that followed. That also partly explains his delayed comeback.

According to Bild (as captured by @iMiaSanMia), though. Neuer has not been training on the pitch for over a week. It is now August 4th:

Manuel Neuer has not been seen on the training pitch at Säbener Straße for over a week. The last time he was training was on July 27. The plan was for Neuer to use the time during the Asia tour for intensive training to join the team soon, but reality now looks different.

When asked, Neuer’s camp said that the rehab is going completely normal and that the goalkeeper is aiming for a return in two weeks. Bayern, on the other hand, have recently been reluctant to make predictions, assuming that it could take much longer than that.

If you were wondering why Bayern Munich has been so involved with some of the goalkeepers on the transfer market, now we know.