Now that Barcelona has dropped out of the race to try to sign Liverpool’s Luis Diaz, the door is even more up for Bayern Munich to up their pursuit - and that’s exactly what they plan on doing. Additionally, now that Hugo Ekitike’s move from Eintracht Frankfurt to Liverpool is over the line, there is added impetus for Bayern to apply the pressure on the Premier League champions to negotiate a fee to sell Diaz. The player himself is open to leaving Merseyside this summer and would want to leave for Bayern.
The stars are seemingly aligned, but there is still a lot of discussions and negotiating that would need to take place.
Bayern’s pursuit of Diaz has been going on simultaneously with their unsuccessful efforts to sign Nick Woltemade from VfB Stuttgart, who are driving a hard bargain and have been reluctant to listen to any of Bayern’s offers thus far. For now, they are stepping away from the Woltemade efforts and solely focusing on Diaz.
With every Plan A, though, there is a Plan B, and per information from football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano (via @iMiaSanMia), Bayern is planning on going for Lyon’s Malick Fofana in the event that an eventual transfer for Luis Diaz falls through. Bayern has even already made initial contact with the player’s representatives to set up tentative conditions for a potential deal to have things ready for if the Diaz deal completely collapses.
Right now, Fofana’s contract with Lyon runs through June 2028 and he is valued at 30 million euros vis Transfermarkt; the same valuation as Woltemade, who Stuttgart want upwards up 80-100 million euros for. As such, Fofana is coming off of a season where he tallied 11 goals and 6 assists from a total of 41 appearances across all competitions in what was a topsy turvy 2024/25 season for Lyon. They just narrowly missed out on going to the Europa League final,having been on the losing end of a dramatic late comeback from Manchester United in the second leg of their semi-final clash at Old Trafford.
With a move for Hugo Ekitiké getting close, the reality is that Bayern Munich is likely going to get Luis Diaz…whether fans like it or not. Bayern Munich has reportedly also exited talks with VfB Stuttgart to focus on a deal for Diaz. It might also just be time for Bayern Munich to rip off the band-aid and sell Kim Min-jae, João Palhinha, and Sacha Boey. Finally, we have a note Bayer Leverkusen’s CEO and his recent slam on Bayern. You can get all of that and more on the latest edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works Show! The podcast is available on Patreon, Acast, Spotify, any major distributor, or below:
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