According to a report from Abendzeitung’s Maximilian Koch (as captured by @iMiaSanMia), there are still issues preventing Bayern Munich from reaching an agreement with center-back Dayot Upamecano on a contract
extension.
While the salary and signing bonus are reportedly all set, the length of the contract and when the release clause is eligible to be triggered are both an impediment to reaching an agreement:
Contract negotiations with Dayot Upamecano are still dragging on, after everyone had expected an agreement to be reached quickly. As things stand, there are still two main sticking points. Firstly, negotiations are still ongoing regarding the contract length: Will the defender sign until 2030 or 2031? Secondly, there’s still no agreement over when the release clause kicks in.
While Upamecano’s camp wants it to be valid as early as 2027, Bayern prefers to implement the clause only in 2028. As for the salary and signing fee, there’s an agreement between both parties (each around €20m). Negotiations could still take days, but Upamecano is still expected to extend his contract. Anything else would be a major surprise.
Bayern Munich board member for sport Max Eberl was asked about the situation at the club’s press conference on Friday and scoffed at the insinuation that the two sides were close to a deal.
“That was speculation. We’ve never said that there practically was an agreement. We always said we were waiting for Upa’s answer. We’re still waiting,” said Eberl (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
Okay, then…
Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany was also asked about his role in the proceedings at the press conference, but the coach focused more on how the defender has performed and how he would handle things from a sporting perspective.
“I want the guys to feel comfortable here as footballers. And when you see how Upa has been performing at the moment and how consistently he’s been playing since I arrived, the most important thing is that he’s at his best as a footballer. That has to be the priority for every player – and everything else is sorted out by Max, Christoph (Freund), and other people at the club. The sporting aspect is the main priority for me. We don’t have control over the rest,” Kompany said (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
Is it time to panic yet? No.
However, there is a chance — no matter how slight — that Bayern Munich and Upamecano have both gone as as far as they are willing to go. Multiple reports indicated that Upamecano would like the release clause able to to be activated in 2027 — just a year into his extension. Bayern Munich, of course, is battling that.
It is conceivable that this is a matter that neither side is willing to budge on. If so, what happens? Well, the Bavarians might have to think about contingency plans. At some point, this deal happens or both sides will just have to move to other opportunities.
Song of the Week: “Dead Girl Superstar”
It is just about always a good time for some Rob Zombie. While we have featured both White Zombie and Rob Zombie before, we have never used “Dead Girl Superstar” before.
The song, which was considered to be a sequel to “Living Dead Girl” (which is part of our Spooky Mix), was on the 2001-release, “The Sinister Urge” and got decent airplay here in Philadelphia at the time, but has sort of fallen off the map. Let’s bring it back here…enjoy:
Entertainment Rundown
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
HBO debuted its next series in the Game of Thrones universe and there are high hopes for this show…so let’s see how the premiere went:
- Look, I enjoy childish humors as much as anyone, but I didn’t need to see a guy’s projectile defecation five minutes into the show. It was trying too hard for a cheap laugh and missed the mark.
- The casting seems good and that could help carry things, but the premiere episode lacked intrigue, excitement, and just wasn’t super interesting.
- The guy playing Dunk (Peter Claffey) carried the episode completely, but even a good performance from him couldn’t save it.
- The problem with the Game of Thrones spinoffs is that they just don’t have the same magic as the original. It is not as bad as when The Walking Dead started an entire universe of spinoffs (yet) that literally no one cares about. The original show couldn’t even sustain its own full run let along the spinoffs. HBO’s Game of Thrones universe is heading down that same road.
- Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) was weird. The dance scene was weird. The character does have some potential, though.
- The shame of all of this is that there is probably a better way to tell this story, but it was a big whiff on the premiere. As Game of Thrones taught us all, you have to hit a home run in the premiere and this was a weak pop out in foul territory.
- I was excited for this episode and I really kept searching for reasons to like it. I just couldn’t scrape much up.
- Overall, I won’t write the show off, but there needs to be a dramatic uptick in, well, being entertaining. I watched the premiere but I don’t know what incentive there was to tune back in. No doubt, the show probably lost some viewers, but I’ll push onward and hope for the best.
Rating: 5.00/10.00
Star War: Maul — Shadow Lord
For you Star Wars nerds out there (yes, I am one), how are you feeling about this?
I have not done any of the animated Star Wars series yet, but I might check this one out.
Masters of the Universe
Because what’s old is new, Master of Universe is being made into a move? The 80s will never die:
Ram Man better be in this (bleep)…
Invincible — Season 4
Finally, Invincible season four released its first trailer and it looks like there will be some major developments:
Predictions
Bayern Munich looked unfocused in the Champions League this week after being outplayed for a half by RB Leipzig last weekend.
This game does that the potential for Bayern Munich to sleepwalk through, but that is not how we see it. Instead, the Bavarians are going to wake up and remember who they are. Bayern Munich should dominate.
Prediction: Bayern Munich 5–0 FC Augsburg
Other Bundesliga matches:
St. Pauli 1–1 Hamburger SV
Heidenheim 0–3 RB Leipzig
Mainz 05 1–2 VfL Wolfsburg
Eintracht Frankfurt 1–2 Hoffenheim
Bayer Leverkusen 4–1 Werder Bremen
Union Berlin 1–3 Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Mönchengladbach 1–2 VfB Stuttgart
SC Freiburg 2–1 FC Köln
Make-up Games
Werder Bremen 0-2 Hoffenheim
St. Pauli 0-3 RB Leipzig
Prediction Results
This is where we stand at the break…
- Total: 355-199
- Perfect Picks: 33
- Bundesliga Last Matchday: 4-5
- Bundesliga Overall: 95-66
- DFB-Pokal: 45-11
- World Cup Qualifiers/Friendlies: 99-45
- Champions League: 72-54
- Club World Cup: 39-23
- Club Friendlies: 4-0
- Franz Beckenbauer Supercup: 1-0
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…
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