Bayern Munich has been relatively busy in the summer transfer window thus far, but it does now look like they will not be able to land Bayer Leverkusen center back Jonathan Tah, who has been a target of the Rekordmeister’s for the better part of the past four to five months.
As things stands, Bayern’s latest offer for the Germany international was €20 million, plus another €5 million in add-ons, which was formally submitted by board member for sport Max Eberl. Leverkusen rejected that most recent bid from Bayern, as they are taking a hardline stance on the amount of money they would want to let their center back go during this summer’s transfer window. Per transfermarkt, he is valuated at around €40 million, so Leverkusen likely would not accept an offer from Bayern until the total package reaches closer to that valuation amount, even though the player himself has expressed his desire to join Bayern.
Per new information from Suddeutsche Zeitung (via @iMiaSanMia), Bayern is no longer expecting that they will be able to sign Tah this summer. They feel this way despite the fact that the player is ready and waiting to make the move because they do not realistically feel they can improve their offer for him. In recent transfer windows from recent season’s past, Bayern has spent considerable amounts of money on defenders a la Kim Min-jae, Matthijs de Ligt, Lucas Hernandez, Dayot Upamecano, Benjamin Pavard, etc.
As things stand now, there are still some uncertainties remaining for Bayern in the transfer window. Hiroki Ito’s metatarsal injury in the 1-1 friendly draw against FC Düren means that the club will be without one defender for a few weeks, so they could very well look into the transfer market for another defender. Bayern is also expecting the departure of defender Noussair Mazraoui to the Premier League and that are still not yet 100% certain whether or not De Ligt will be staying at the club or leaving this summer.
There are still a lot of moving parts Bayern need to sort out before they would be able to increase their offer to Leverkusen for Tah. For now, it is a fleeting hope at best that he will become a Bayern player for next season.