It was only a week ago when a door suddenly opened within the transfer window for FC Bayern and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic.
João Cancelo was suddenly available and could be loaned out to those responsible at Manchester City for the rest of the season via a short official route – without a rental fee, only the (admittedly lavish) salary of the Portuguese must be paid by the Munich team.
A real coup, as Cancelo’s debut in the DFB Cup round of 16 last Wednesday at FSV Mainz showed. At 4: 0, the 28-year-old perfectly prepared Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s opening goal with a top cross. The fact that the deal was settled so quickly had to do with the fact that Bayern had been in contact with Cancelo’s agent Jorge Mendes for years.
“After the transfer was done, we actually thought again about how long we’d been dealing with João,” Salihamidzic said in “BamS”: “We came to more than four years.”
In the summer of 2019, the attacking full-back switched from Juventus to Manchester City for 65 million euros. “A transfer was never possible before. Either the position was occupied or we didn’t have the money for it,” Salihamidzic admitted. So staying power paid off.
Also in terms of final commitment? What will happen to Julian Nagelsmann’s absolute dream player in the summer? Bayern secured a €70m purchase option for Cancelo as part of the January deal. But can this sum be raised at all in the event that the candidate continues to develop so well and then after four months it would be impossible to imagine the team without it?
“We made it clear to him that this sum is difficult for us to imagine in the next few years,” said Salihamidzic: Nevertheless, as always in life, there is a back door here: “If all sides absolutely want a common solution, you can do that on Manage Ende too. He knows he’s been one of our dream players for years.”
In addition, a return to the Skyblues from Manchester despite a contract until 2027 is hardly imaginable due to the apparently broken relationship with city coach Pep Guardiola. But what could a 70 million euro investment in Cancelo mean for the Bavarian summer transfer plans? On the one hand, they are hoping for a transfer fee of around 30 to 40 million euros for defender Benjamin Pavard, who wants to leave Bayern a year before his contract expires – FC Barcelona has already signaled an interest.
In addition to Cancelo, the Munich bosses have to think about extending the contract in the case of Daley Blind (32/so far only until the end of June 2023) – and they want to extend the working paper of attacker Choupo-Moting (33) by another year plus a possible option – including salary increase. Lucas Hernández, who will be out until the start of the coming season due to a cruciate ligament rupture, is set to extend his contract beyond 2024 as an important part of the team’s future. All expensive affairs.
And then there’s the dream of England’s star centre-forward, Harry Kane. The 29-year-old should finally close the gap of Robert Lewandowski (since the summer at FC Barcelona). Kane’s market value is around 90 million euros, his contract with Tottenham Hotspur runs until 2024. If he doesn’t extend it, the Londoners want to sell him this transfer summer. Bayern’s honorary president Uli Hoeneß recently said at Sport1 about Kane: “That’s an order of magnitude – I know that Manchester City got out at 140 or 150 million last year and I can’t imagine that these are amounts that FC Bayern pay want or can.”
One thing seems clear: either Cancelo – or Kane.
This article was written by Patrick Strasser
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The original of this post “FC Bayern would have to do without their dream striker for Cancelo!” comes from the evening newspaper.
