Bayern Munich sporting director Christoph Freund and board member for sport Max Eberl have already promised is likely to be a relatively busy summer transfer window for the Rekordmeister. In what seemed like a move out of left field, Bayern has already secured the signing of Hikori Ito from VfB Stuttgart by virtue of activating the €30 million release clause in his contract with the Swabians. He becomes Bayern’s first official signing of the summer, starting off what could be an exciting list of inbound players.
On top of negotiating the contracts for key players like Joshua Kimmich, Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sané, Eberl and Freund have a list of players they are really keen on brining in to play under Vincent Kompany. The club is poised to sign Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen, João Palhinha from Fulham, and Xavi Simons from Paris Saint-Germain, as his loan spell with RB Leipzig ends on the 30th of June. For bot Tah and Palhinha, both players have made it clear they want to join Bayern, but it is just a matter of the clubs agreeing on appropriate fees.
For Xavi Simons, the case is not as clear and Bayern might be pushed to work a bit harder to acquire the Dutch playmaker. Per information from kicker (via @iMiaSanMia), the Rekordmeister remain increasingly eager to sign him and the player himself was given a promise by PSG when he renewed his contract with them last year, he was promised the choice where he wanted to go after his loan spell with Leipzig ended.
For Bayern, they have one advantage over other clubs that are interested in Simons because Eberl is one of the key figures that worked on sorting out his loan deal with Leipzig when he was loaned out to Die Roten Bullen from PSG. Eberl is also well aware of the fact that Simons has no desire to remain at PSG and that he is very much looking for a move away from the Ligue 1 giants this summer — a summer where they will be working desperately hard to replace Kylian Mbappe, who has finally signed for Real Madrid.
While he does not want to stay at PSG, Simons could decide to stay at Leipzig for at least another year, though, which is another roadblock for Bayern. He could find it to be a best fit for him to stay there at least for one more season instead of making a move, but Eberl, Freund, and the rest of Bayern’s front office will do what they can to try to convince him otherwise.
This past season, Simons tallied 10 goals and 15 assists from a total of 43 appearances across all competitions in Leipzig’s run to a 4th place finish in the Bundesliga and progression to the knockout stages of the Champions League, having narrowly lost out to the winners, Real Madrid, over two legs in the round of 16.
Looking for thoughts and analysis on Germany’s outlook for the EURO 2024 competition and an in-depth breakdown on the multitude of Bayern Munich transfer rumors — including the arrival of Hiroki Ito and the possible departures of Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry, and Alphonso Davies, plus a whole lot more? Then check out our Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up on Spotify or below: