According to a report from Eurosport, Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso will leave the club after the season, with his likely destination being Real Madrid.
However, Bayern Munich is not fully out of the mix and could make a play for Alonso if Vincent Kompany suffers some sort of collapse in the second half of the season:
Xabi Alonso will leave the Bayer Leverkusen dugout at the end of the current season, despite having a contract until June 2026, as Eurosport Spain has been able to find out. Along with the Tolosarra coach, the Spanish international left-back Alejandro Grimaldo will also leave the aspirin club. The destination seems clear: to succeed Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid.
All roads lead to Xabi Alonso joining Real Madrid next season, with no delays until June 2026 when the respective contracts of the Tolosarra and Carlo Ancelotti expire . As Eurosport Spain can confirm, he will leave Leverkusen in a few months to become a free agent.
It seems clear that he is the chosen one to start a new cycle at Real Madrid , but according to this information it is also not ruled out that he will end up at Bayern Munich if Vincent Kompany ‘s performance is not satisfactory after the Bavarian club’s risky gamble of giving him the reins.
It is easy to see that Ancelotti’s tenure with Madrid could come to a close. The veteran coach could finally decide to hang up his pack of smokes whistle and ride off into the sunset after a tremendous career.
It is harder to imagine that Bayern Munich is going to sack Kompany, barring some kind of epic collapse. While not wholly inconceivable, it seems very unlikely that the Bavarians are set up for a second half slide. The Bundesliga is a mess and Bayern Munich looks to be extremely ready to seize control of it.
So…should fans start dreaming of Alonso? Probably not. For as much as Bayern Munich might like him and want him, Kompany does not seem like he will oversee a Rückrunde meltdown.
There is, however, one aspect of this situation that could have a direct effect on Bayern Munich’s plans — the potential of Florian Wirtz following Alonso to Real Madrid. It has been rumored that Real Madrid considers Wirtz to be a “dream transfer” and that situation could be helped greatly if Alonso slides into the gig with Los Blancos.
Just food for thought…
Interestingly, Alejandro Grimaldo is also listed in the report from Eurosport as someone likely to leave Bayer Leverkusen this summer:
On the other hand, Alejandro Grimaldo, a left-back with a very offensive profile, also a member of Leverkusen, has reportedly made the decision to leave the club together with the coach who has made him explode as a footballer. Grimaldo, who also has many ‘suitors’ among the main clubs in Europe, is not sure, at least for the moment, which club he will play for next season.
Whatever happens, it is clear that Bayer Leverkusen’s nice run over the past two seasons is in jeopardy of falling apart next summer.
Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show Season 4, Episode 18
Bayern Munich is on break, but there is no shortage of topics to talk about. This is what we have on tap for this edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show:
- Breaking down the report from Sport1 about Bayern Munich’s rumored proposal to Jamal Musiala. What kind of money? How long? Why none of that really matters as much as having the ability now start to build around him as the club’s centerpiece.
- Bayern Munich is reportedly going to offload at least one winger this summer…who will it be? Can Paul Wanner help fill the void without Bayern having to spend for a replacement?
- João Palhinha is injured and some fans are unraveling, but it is not the end of the world even against a daunting schedule.
- Final thoughts on The Penguin.
Song of the Week: “Hard Times” by Ryan Bingham
Ryan Bingham is one of those artists from the mid-to-late aughts that an aura about him and his music.
I often harken back to those long rides (63 miles one way!) I used to make for work and Bingham was an artist, who I would often hear on 88.5 WXPN in Philadelphia. This track struck a chord with me at the time and I still select it on my playlist even today.
Released in 2007 as part of the Mescalito album, give it a listen now:
Kimmich’s future in doubt?
As most players do, Joshua Kimmich gave a bit of a cryptic response this week when asked about his future at Bayern Munich. Lothar Matthäus took Kimmich’s comments seriously and indicated the Germany international should stick with the club.
“I think it would be a pity if he left FC Bayern. He’s an exemplary professional and the face of the club in the future together with Jamal Musiala. It would therefore be a bitter loss if another top player after David Alaba were to leave on a free transfer. His situation has changed under Vincent Kompany. You should leave the past behind. Bayern have a great team, a great style of play and a great atmosphere. But maybe Kimmich wants to try something different. We know that there’s a coach in Barcelona in Hansi Flick who rates him extremely highly,” Matthäus told Abendzeitung’s Maximilian Koch (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
While it still seems unlikely that Kimmich would leave Bayern Munich, it is impossible to dent that he will have options to consider if he has that desire.
Bavarian Podcast Works — Preview Show: Germany vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary
Former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann will lead the German national team into another set of UEFA Nations League games.
This time, Germany will face off with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary in what should be more matches for the Germans to build momentum on the road to the 2026 World Cup.
Nagelsmann will be dealing with the normal obstacles like injuries and illnesses, but the squad has enough depth and versatility to cover whatever pops up (it also does not hurt that Bayern Munich star Jamal Musiala might be the hottest player in Europe at the moment).
Let’s just jump into, this is what we have in tap for this episode of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Preview Show:
- A look at Nagelsmann’s impact on the team and how things are going.
- Addressing some of what we know in terms of injured players and illnesses.
- Analyzing what to expect from each position group.
- Predictions on each match.
Entertainment Rundown
The Penguin — Season 1, Episode 8: “A Great or Little Thing”
We finally got the long-awaited season finale and it lived up to the billing that the show had created through the first seven episodes. Let’s dive in:
- The final episode gave the kind of story — and ending — that fit the character and plot.
- Learning the backstory of the aftermath of Oz Cobb’s manslaughter of his brothers and how his mother has really felt about him all this time was one of those moments that helps tie up loose ends of the relationship between the two characters (especially the part with Francis Cobb trying have Oz killed).
- Cobb appealing to — and ultimately — using the lower-rung gangsters (while also manipulating a politician to help take care of his Sofia problem) to overthrow the existing structure was a genius move that built some semblance of loyalty between Cobb and the new powers that be. In the world of gangs and the mafia, though, that will likely be short-lived for some.
- Sofia’s insistence on referring to Cobb as a “man of the people” — and how he embraced it — was very telling about how Cobb viewed himself.
- In a weird way, Cobb had become the kind of evil figure that was almost endearing in some ways because he had overcome a disability, bucked the odds of how far he could make it, and showed that he did have a caring side. However, the last few episodes desperately tried to squelch all of that with the back stories about his brothers, sending Sofia back to Arkham Asylum, and killing Victor. In the end, he was just another power-hungry, megalomaniac, who was willing to do anything to sit on the throne.
- Already dealing with so many vulnerabilities (his disability, his mother), Cobb decided that he could not afford one more distraction like Victor in his life.
- The final scene in the penthouse was odd to say the least. Aside of his desire for power, it is clear that Cobb’s obsession with pleasing his mother might be his biggest weakness (and biggest regret as well, given that she never got to fully experience his victory because she is in a vegetative state).
- Obviously, the thoughts now go to how big a role Cobb will play in the greater universe of The Batman. It looks like there are two more movies planned (at a minimum) and that Cobb will play a role in the second film (Colin Farrell was quoted as saying he’s in five or six scenes).
- Overall, this was a well-told story, set in a gritty universe…and it just worked.
Episode Rating: 9.25/10.00
Overall Season Rating: 9.00/10.00
Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show Special Edition: Breaking down our re-watch of Game of Thrones
Let’s get this out of the way — this is not a Bayern Munich podcast (for this edition only), so we want to give you a fair warning for anyone seeking Bayern Munich or German national team chatter. However, this “special edition” will not affect your normal schedule…a Weekend Warm-up Show has already dropped at its normal day and time!
So…let’s talk about how this came to be…
After the disappointing second season of House of the Dragon, we had a lot of chatter about Game of Thrones, its legacy as a show, the possibilities for it going forward, etc. From that, an idea was sparked for re-watching the show and assessing if we were all vindicated for feeling so bitter about the ending…or if maybe time had healed some old wounds.
We will explore all of that and more. There are a lot of fun categories we take a look at…the good, the bad, and everything in between.
With Bayern Munich on a hiatus, there was no better time to do this and have all of our minds take a little break from what has been a crazy few weeks for the Bavarians.
If you want the written version, you can get it here.
So, enjoy this if you are into it…or don’t listen if you are not…just be rest assured, we will be turning back to our normal coverage ASAP!
Prediction Records
- Last Week Bundesliga: 2-7 (Through Matchday 10)
- Overall Bundesliga: 39-50
- UEFA Nations League: 57-38 (Thursday’s results not included; will post complete results next weekend)
- Champions League: 36-36 (Through Matchday 4)
- DFB-Pokal: 36-12 (Through 2nd Round)
- Total: 168-137
- Perfect Picks: 29 (when the score and winner is predicted exactly)
