Bayern Munich News: Happy New Year from BFW!; Inter Milan eyeing Kim Min-jae; Harry Kane owned 2025; Toni Kroos not overly confident in Germany; an...

SB Nation

Happy New Year from BFW! (Bavarian Football Works)

Happy New Year from Bavarian Football Works! Thanks for being part of this community for another calendar year.

As you know, though, the work is far from over. Bayern Munich is in the midst of an incredible

run of play and is well-poised to compete for a treble. We’ll be here for all of it and hopefully you will, too!

For those of you who have been here for a while, we appreciate the consistency and commitment to helping form the foundation of this community. For the newcomers, your presence is welcome and we hope to see you age gracefully into being a veteran of this place.

2026 has the potential to be a great year and it will be even better if we are all here to live through the ups-and-down, the highs-and-lows, the grass reports, the training ground fights, the transfers, and the fun…together.

2025 was a good one, but let’s turn the page and look forward to 2026!

Inter likes Kim, but won’t pay big fee (Gazzetta Dello Sport via @iMiaSanMia)

Inter Milan really likes Bayern Munich center-back Kim Min-jae, but is not willing to upset its budget structure to bring him in:

Kim Min-jae is Milan’s ideal solution to strengthen their backline in January. But to make him a viable option, it has to be a loan deal with a potential option/obligation to buy. Given his limited role at Bayern this season, Kim would be open to a return to Italy. But such a deal with Bayern is complicated. Therefore Milan are also looking at more realistic options.

Serie A is where Kim had his best seasons and it would seem like a good fit for him to go back there, but his salary + bonus package is €15 million — a figure that Inter Milan is not willing to pay, especially when a transfer free would be on top of that.

It is hard to think about Kim spending another season with Bayern Munich. A great athlete, the South Korean’s play on the pitch has been solid at times and shaky at others. Hopefully, he can get himself and his future sorted soon enough.

Groß back to Brighton (Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg)

After playing 16 games (732 minutes) for Borussia Dortmund in the Hinrunde, Pascal Groß likely realized that he was not going to get enough playing time to have a chance at making Germany’s 2026 World Cup squad and is now moving to Brighton:

🚨💥 Pascal Groß to Brighton – DONE DEAL ✔️

Excl. detail: Borussia Dortmund receive nearly €2 million guaranteed and could still earn around €1 million in potential bonuses. Medical scheduled for Thursday. #bvb

Groß, who has largely played well for Germany in recent years, is facing stiff competition for a central midfield spot. While he might be one of Germany’s better true defensive midfielders, there are some young players pushing for a spot and established players eager to make the team for the tournament.

This move will likely — at least — give Groß a puncher’s chance at making it.

Kane ran rampant in 2025 (@OptaFranz)

Harry Kane just completely ran rampant in 2025 for Bayern Munich:

Kroos not a fan of new World Cup format (Football Talk)

Toni Kroos has a lot of takes.

A lot of them…we are serious.

When recently asked about the new format for the World Cup, Kroos said he was not a fan. For good measure, he also said that Germany and Brazil were not in the top five teams heading into the tourney.

“I’m against the World Cup format with 48 nations: With so many teams, we will see many 5-0 results in group stage… These aren’t games fans want to see. I’m interested in good, quality games that we enjoy watching. I don’t enjoy a 5-0, a 6-0. Germany and Brazil are not top 5 favorites.”

Can Germany get there by the time the tournament starts? That would be awesome, but it remains to be seen.

Amorim encourages Zirkzee to have fun (Fabrizio Romano)

Rúben Amorim is confident that Joshua Zirkzee can eventually develop into the kind of player that Manchester United can depend on.

“He just needs to do his part, to show his talent, because he’s a talented guy,” said Amorim. “He needs to step up in the duels, because the rest, he has that, the fans love it. And just that, just do his job and have fun”.

If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…