The Bayern Insider: Real Madrid commit fatal Michael Olise error after €140m deal agreed Welcome to today’s exclusive & comprehensive round-up of all things Bayern Munich from Bayern insider Christian Falk. Featuring updates on Michael Olise, Harry Kane, Max Eberl, and Min-jae Kim. Today’s top stories
Have Real Madrid shot themselves in the foot regarding their long-term pursuit of Michael Olise? Are Barcelona and Tottenham trying it on again with Harry Kane? Could Manchester United snap up a FC Bayern first-teamer? And plenty more on João Palhinha, Bara Ndiaye, Bryan Zaragoza & Sacha Boey
The presidential committee (made up of five high-ranking Bayern officials) held a meeting in which they gave the green light for new contracts to be granted to Max Eberl, the director of sport, and CEO Jan Christian-Dreesen. Now, the stage is set for a supervisory board meeting (which we heard will take place on 25 August), which will formalise new contracts for the pair. With five green lights already present in the supervisory board (consisting of nine members), the decision is very clear. One of the members, by the way, is Uli Hoeneß – and his word is all but law at Bayern Munich. So, FC Bayern will head into the future with Max Eberl helping steer the ship. But it’s worth noting that this wasn’t always the obvious outcome. Don’t forget that Hoeneß once said it was “60-40” on whether Eberl would keep his job. But now: it’s 100% in the former Gladbach chief’s favour. I think it’s a good decision, given all the positive work Max Eberl has done at the club, including bringing in Vincent Kompany, Michael Olise, Luis Diaz, and others. Bayern leading Bundesliga awareness mission ✅ It is TRUE: Bayern Munich are urging their domestic rivals to help them in their mission to promote the Bundesliga overseas. FC Bayern are acutely aware of how often Premier League clubs are travelling to Asia and the United States, making money for the league – which explains, in part, why the Premier League can rely on huge broadcast revenue. By comparison, the Bundesliga’s TV revenue is paltry. And you can see why when only Bayern and Borussia Dortmund travelled abroad for their pre-season tours. Jan-Christian Dreesen and Bayern’s marketing director, Rouven Kasper, have been fighting to change this. But in the end, it always depends on which clubs are travelling; if it’s the “wrong club”, which isn’t so famous, then this will take money from the league’s central pot, which Bayern also draw from. So, it’s always a question of earning money. Want more CF Bayern Insider coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust To be honest, Bayern didn’t earn so much money from their Asia trip. You have the associated costs, the stadium isn’t always full, and you don’t have massive TV revenue. It’s just to make the Bundesliga more commercially appealing, but this is important to ensure that German football continues to attract new fans from additional territories. Bayern Munich want to improve their infrastructure ✅ It is TRUE: Bayern Munich are making efforts to improve the club’s infrastructure. If you find yourself around Säbener Straße, you’ll notice it’s looking a little different! There are many works going on, and for good reason. Players have recognised that the training centre isn’t quite as modern as some of their counterparts in the Premier League. It’s not so big, for instance. Jurgen Klinsmann instigated the last plans in 2008 to improve the facilities. On the other hand, there is a very good women’s football team, but they need more space, which is why Bayern Munich have bought a new stadium, Sportpark Unterhaching, but there were also enormous costs; they have to pay for it, for starters, and also make infrastructure changes. But make no mistake, if there is something that needs doing within the squad, the squad always comes first when it comes to spending money. Real Madrid will struggle to get Michael Olise now For Bayern Munich, Real Madrid’s successful pursuit of RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande is really good news. I think Madrid’s first idea was to sign Michael Olise; they tried it, they tested it, with rumours. They didn’t ask Bayern Munich for the player directly because they already knew the answer would be a firm “no”. The presidents of both clubs, Herbert Hainer and Florentino Pérez, of course, had already discussed this topic to put an end to the rumours. FC Bayern have always been clear: Olise is not for sale this summer. Now, you see Real Madrid have potentially committed as much as €140m [£119.5m] to Diomande – a player who favours the same position Michael Olise is playing. Additionally, Los Blancos have agreed a new contract with Vinicius Jr until 2032. So, both sides are full! And it’s not like the middle is looking particularly weak either. I certainly think Kylian Mbappe would have something to say if they bring another attacker in! Plus, you have Jude Bellingham and free transfer Bernardo Silva available in the centre. So, at the minute, it looks pretty full up top for Real Madrid, and that’s why it’s such a good sign for Bayern Munich. Now, FC Bayern can negotiate with Michael Olise and quite rightly point out that his “dream club” has spent the money on another player and has enough players in his position. Perhaps it’s better to stay put at Bayern Munich and sign a new contract. The idea is that he would get more money than what he’s currently earning (€13m-15m [£11.1m-12.8m] gross). Bayern Munich would like the France international to be earning more in the region of over €20m [£17m]. Harry Kane, for reference, is earning €25m [£21.3m] a year, so this could be the rough range for Michael Olise. But for this, he has to sign a long-term contract. Harry Kane poised to stay at Bayern until 2029 (minimum) ✅ It is TRUE: Harry Kane is set to commit to a contract extension until 2029 at the earliest. As I mentioned previously – before The Times’ recent report on the subject – both sides were very clear: there is no idea to just extend Kane’s contract by a year. Both sides knew that the new contract would run until 2029 at a bare minimum. Perhaps there will be an opportunity to add another year on top. Kane, of course, is at such an age that Bayern can’t commit to a five-year contract. Normally, for players of the Englishman’s age, they usually just give one year, but this case is an exception. For an indication of just how important Harry Kane is to Bayern Munich, by the way, I should mention that the club really wants to make a big deal of him winning the Golden Boot last term. There are plans in place to host a big show (shared on the club’s streaming platform) at Säbener Straße next week, and to honour Harry Kane in the Bayern museum in the stadium. So, you see, they want to do everything they can to show their appreciation for Kane, to keep him happy in Munich, and, of course, to encourage him to sign a new contract. Everyone hopes he will sign it! Everyone can agree that a contract until 2029 would be best for both sides, so now it’s just a question of how much money they will offer in salary. I can confirm that Bayern Munich are very clear that they’re not going to offer Harry Kane less than what he’s currently on. So, with that in mind, I think the negotiations won’t be particularly lengthy. Barcelona and Tottenham are keeping an eye on Kane ✅ It is TRUE: Neither FC Bayern nor Harry Kane are particularly disturbed by the rumours linking the striker to Barcelona and Tottenham. During the World Cup, there was some speculation that clubs like the Spanish giants were trying to gauge Kane’s position on a potential move, but the 33-year-old made it clear that this was simply no topic for him – especially not while he was concentrating on trying to get England to the World Cup final. Also, more to the point, Harry Kane made it clear he was concentrating on life with Bayern Munich; he wants to win the Champions League with the Bundesliga side. So, of course, the negotiations will start with the former Spurs star – he’ll be arriving in Munich in the coming days – shortly, and I think this will be a deal Bayern Munich finalises before they begin fresh talks with Michael Olise. Everything is now on Harry Kane and his new potential contract. Bara Ndiaye is officially a Bayern Munich player The partnership with Gambino Stars worked wonderfully. He could play for Bayern last term, but he wasn’t eligible for action with the second team. This season, he will get the chance in the first team. Yesterday, I had a call with Lothar Matthäus, our world-champion captain from 1990, and he described Ndiaye as a very interesting player with chances to get into the team. He watched him in the friendlies and felt the 18-year-old gave a great impression. So, you see that Bayern Munich are not only developing their own talents, but they’re also quite good at finding them on the market. The idea of Bayern Munich is clearly to work a little differently from other clubs that have a little more money than they do, and this seems to be working out so far. Is João Palhinha’s return to the Premier League on? We talked with Aston Villa’s director of football, Damian Vidagany, who told us at BILD about the Villans’ clear interest in João Palhinha. So, you can see there that he wanted to make a statement about this deal. There are, however, still two problems, and both of them revolve around money. Bayern Munich are insisting on €30m [£25.6m] from Aston Villa, as they’re fully aware that Premier League clubs can afford this. It’s not like talks with Benfica or Sporting Lisbon (two clubs that are also interested in the player). Aston Villa have the money, and it’s clear they need the player, so this is why Bayern hopes to finalise this deal. Before, everyone was fully aware that FC Bayern wanted to offload the holding midfielder. But the difference is that now there is a club that needs Palhinha. This is why I’m confident that Bayern Munich and Aston Villa will find a solution. Is there also a market for Bryan Zaragoza and Sacha Boey? It’s getting hard for Bayern Munich in their efforts to sell Bryan Zaragoza and Sacha Boey. Zaragoza has been injured in recent weeks, but FC Bayern are clear that they want to part ways. I heard that the Bavarians are looking for €8.5m [£7.2m]. I think this is a fair asking price for a player who had been knocking on the door of the Spanish international team. So, he needs playing time; I think that’s the key point, and he’s not physically strong enough for Bayern Munich. But for other clubs, he’d make a fine addition. I see a bigger problem with Sacha Boey. Bayern still want €15m [£12.8m] for the player. He has shown that he’s a talented player in Bayern’s recent friendlies, but everyone knows that the club is keen to get rid of the footballer. This is why it’s always hard to find a market for the fullback. As far as Palhinha is concerned, a big problem with getting the Portugal international off the books has been his keenness to keep the money he’s earning at Bayern Munich at another club. Other clubs have expressed concern that his salary demands are a little too high. So, the former Fulham man has to make some compromises if he wants a move to another club. Perhaps he’ll lower his salary demands a little! Manchester United’s interest in Min-jae Kim ✅ It is TRUE: There is some truth to reports around Manchester United’s interest in Min-jae Kim. As I’ve mentioned with Bayern Insider previously, the South Korean international is on the list at United. They’re always looking at his situation at Bayern Munich. That said, Min-jae Kim is very clear at the moment that he wants to stay at Bayern and he’s fine with his current role at the club. He’s not in the starting XI at the moment, but he has a chance to get there if he’s playing well and, of course, if injuries strike. So, Kim wants to see if he can push back into the team. It’s not like he’s so disappointed that he wants to force a move, and this is a very good situation for Bayern Munich, as they’re fully aware they can’t rely on just two senior centre-backs for an entire season. Having a player like Kim available is critical if they want to go far in all competitions – especially in the Champions League. Remember, succeeding in Europe is a big target for Bayern Munich. Vincent Kompany made it clear that Bayern want to do better than they did last term. The target is winning the competition. I can’t remember this aim ever being so clearly formalised by the head coach as Kompany did. So, you see, they need a really good squad and they need high-quality options like Min-jae Kim. So, whatever way you look at it, it’s a good thing that he’s staying.