According to a report from Sportske Novosti (as captured by @iMiaSanMia), Bayern Munich sporting director Christoph Freund is monitoring Royale Union Saint-Gilloise forward Franjo Ivanović:
Christoph Freund is a fan of Royale Union Saint-Gilloise forward Franjo Ivanović (21). The Austria-born Croatian is mainly a striker but can play across all positions in attack. Freund is keeping an eye on the player, but as things stand there’s no offer. Frankfurt are also interested in Ivanović and see him as a potential
ADreplacement for Marmoush/Ekitike next to Burkardt. USG want around €25m. Ivanović is open to a Bundesliga move, having played for Augsburg at the beginning of his career.
Given the current injury situation and the potential sales and exits for 2025 and 2026, this kind of move could make sense. It could be a good “buy low, sell high” scenario on a player who is affordable and — per some scouts — has a high ceiling.
Skeptics will point to Freund’s 2024 winter transfer window as a reason to think this is a bad idea. While in charge before Max Eberl took over as board member for sport, the sporting director acquired Daniel Peretz, Sacha Boey, and Bryan Zaragoza for approximately €45-€49 million — not exactly a murderer’s row of impact players for that amount of money.
Freund did strike gold with center-back Eric Dier in January of 2024, but many fans will not forget the other moves from that transfer window and have grown skeptical of Freund’s ability to identify the right talent in the transfer market.
Looking for more thoughts and discussion on Bayern Munich’s recent rejections with bids on VfB Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade and Liverpool’s Luis Diaz, plus some talk about the heat that Max Eberl and the fellas are facing — plus a discussion on why Nestory Irankunda might not have worked out and also why Bayern needs to be on high alert with Paul Wanner? Awesome, then we have you covered with our Bavarian Podcast Works Show! You can get the podcast on Patreon, Acast, Spotify, and any leading podcast distributor or below:
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