After having two opening bids rejected by VfB Stuttgart, Bayern Munich has temporarily tabled their pursuit of striker Nick Woltemade. The striker has made it clear that he would like to leave for Bayern but Stuttgart have proven that they will remain resilient in driving a hard bargain and not letting their striker go for less than they want to. His current market value is 30 million euros, but even Bayern’s latest offer of just shy of 50 million was not enough to get Stuttgart to budge.
As such,
Bayern’s focus for now is on trying to land Liverpool winger Luis Diaz, but the Premier League champions have also been insistent that the Colombian is not for sale, though that language coming out of Merseyside was prior to them securing Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Ironically enough, well before the summer transfer window ends, Bayern face Stuttgart in the DFL-Supercup on August 16th, which is now known as the Franz Beckenbauer Cup. Per information from Bild journalist Julian Agardi (via @iMiaSanMia), Stuttgart manager Sebastian Hoeneß is very much considering the idea of not playing Woltemade in the Supercup against Bayern at the MHP Arena. Even that does wind up happening, there’s certainly different ways of interpreting it.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/26063577/2214022936.jpg)
Photo by Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty ImagesFor starters, Woltemade is only expected back in training on the 28th of this month after some time off following his involvement with the German U-21s at the U-21 EUROs, so he won’t have much training time in his legs prior to the Supercup. In what would be a more cynical approach to viewing this, Hoeneß could be, in a way, punishing his player for being so brazen about his desire to join Bayern, but most of the noise coming out of the press is solely because of that fact that he is linked with the German Rekordmeister and is at the heart of transfer news in Germany this summer.
Either way, there is still a lot that could transpire before now and August 16th. Bayern could wind up coming in with an offer that Stuttgart will want to listen to, or Bayern could wind up deciding to just walk away altogether and keep focusing their transfer efforts elsewhere in the market.
More from bavarianfootballworks.com:
- A forgettable international match day for all Bayern Munich players involved
- Czech Republic vs Germany lineup, discussion: Time, TV schedule and how to watch World Cup Qualifiers online
- ‘What about Thomas Müller?' Support pours in for Bayern Munich's troubled icon
- BFW Transfer Deadline Day 2017 live thread
- Kingsley Coman confident of his part in Bayern Munich’s plans this season
- Report: Renato Sanches set for loan move to Swansea
- Would this guy be the perfect backup for Robert Lewandowski?
