The summer transfer window is winding down, which means that rumors, speculation, and wantaway player antics have shifted into high gear as we edge close to September 1st. To date, Bayern Munich have only signed Jonathan Tah, Tom Bischof and Luis Diaz, while they have lost Thomas Müller, Leroy Sané and Kingsley Coman, while all of Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies and Hiroki Itō are sidelined with long-term injuries. To add insult to injury, there are also a large portion of Bayern fans in the camp
of feeling the club overpaid Liverpool for Diaz with the €75m fee they paid to acquire the Colombian international.
Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku has always been on Bayern’s long list of Florian Wirtz contingency plans for Bayern, and the German Rekordmeister’s pursuit of the French international has ramped up in recent weeks. However, in the latest twist of the tale, Chelsea are asking for a fee of around €50m for Nkunku, which is a price that Bayern wants to get negotiated down — they do not want to pay that much for him. Bayern had also proposed the idea of potentially doing a loan deal for the French attacker, but Chelsea have a preference to a permanent sale.
Per information from The Athletic’s David Ornstein and Seb Stafford-Bloor (via @iMiaSanMia), RB Leipzig, Nkunku’s former club, are now stepping up their talks with Chelsea over a potential summer move for the player. He is reportedly open to a move back to the Bundesliga to play for his former club despite Die Roten Bullen having missed out on Champions League football for this season. The discussions between Chelsea and Leipzig are over a permanent deal, but nothing is considered to be in the advanced stage at this point between either club or the player.
There’s still room for Bayern to play their hand, as Chelsea could just be using Leipzig’s interest to posture the worth of the €50m asking price for Nkunku. At Leipzig, he would likely be a starter, but the club struggled last season and will be under increased pressure to finish in the top four of the Bundesliga this season. At Bayern, they are coming off of a Bundesliga title, aiming to go further in the Champions League this season and in the beginning phases of the season with Musiala out, Nkunku would likely get a lot of playing time. In that regard, Bayern certainly have a favorable package to present, but it will all come down to finances.
