Daily Schmankerl: Is Bayern Munich sweating the allure of Hansi Flick for big stars?; Neymar catching strays all over; Manchester City to give Erling Haaland a big raise?; Additional praise on Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz; and MORE!

There is no doubt that many of the players who have worked under Hansi Flick at Bayern Munich hold an affinity toward their ex-coach. Would it be enough for Flick to convince them to jump ship from Bavaria to Barca, though?

It might be something that the club is worried about with Joshua Kimmich, Alphonso Davies…and maybe even Jamal Musiala:

Bayern Munich fears that its former head coach and current FC Barcelona manager Hansi Flick can seduce its big stars and convince them to head west to Catalonia, as pointed out by Mundo Deportivo.

Flick is doing a magnificent job at the Montjuic Stadium, and currently has his men top of the La Liga table by six points going into the ongoing November international break. The advantage was achieved through a landmark 4-0 win over Real Madrid in El Clasico, during a week of litmus tests where Barca exorcised the demons of its “black beast” in Europe and also thrashed Bayern 4-1 at the mentioned ground in the Champions League.

Mundo Deportivo now explains that Bayern “fears” Barca away from the pitch at the same time it probably has a newfound sense of caution and respect towards the Blagurana on it.

The likes of Lothar Matthaus in and around Bayern’s environment have a lot of respect for Flick’s power of seduction, which could be used in luring the likes of Alphonso Davies, Kimmich and perhaps even Jamal Musiala west to Catalonia one day. While Musiala is under contract until June 30, 2026, Kimmich and Davies’ cases are more serious in that they can walk for free from the Allianz Arena a year before that date, or rather just over seven months from now.

It is way too early to hit the panic button just yet, but Kimmich and Davies have been linked to FC Barcelona already. Davies is more likely thinking about a future with Real Madrid than Barca, but Flick could play a role in convincing the Canadian to join his club.

As for Kimmich and Musiala, it still feels like both are going to extend their contracts with Bayern Munich, even if Kimmich was very vague about his future in a recent interview and Musiala suddenly postponed a decision on his future until early 2025.

Curious? Yes, but it would still be shocking for Kimmich and Musiala to jump ship.

When he is not having goals swiped away by Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry, Borussia Dortmund midfielder Pascal Groß just likes to sit back and watch Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz work their magic for the German national team.

”These are two incredible footballers who are already absolutely world class at their age. You just have to give them the ball [and they do the rest]. Germany has two unbelievable players who can make the difference in every game,” Groß said.

Well…he’s not wrong.

The German national team destroyed Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-0 in a match that was just an all-out, thorough domination by the Germans from start to finish.

Jamal Musiala’s early goal set the tone for the match, which was as good as the team has looked under Julian Nagelsmann. Somehow — even in a terrific performance — Musiala did not end the game as Germany most impactful player (which tells you just how good Florian Wirtz was).

Needless to say, there was a ton to talk about. Here is what we have on tap for the Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show:

• A look at the starting XI.
• A rundown of the scoring and substitutions.
• Wirtz and Musiala are incredible.
• Is the backline ready for a primetime showdown with a European power?

There were rumors kicking around that Neymar wanted to join Lionel Messi and friends at Inter Miami, but it does not look like Tata Martino would be a fan of that move:

Inter Miami manager Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino has ruled out the possibility of signing Neymar from Al Hilal.

And…Neymar will not be going to Palmeiras, either:

Germany’s Tim Kleindienst, Kai Havertz, Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, and Antonio Rüdiger were all named to WhoScored.com’s UEFA Nations League Group A Team of the Week:

Bayer Leverkusen ace Florian Wirtz was named Player of the Round:

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 to 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.

If Robert Lewandowski decides to leave FC Barcelona (which sounds doubtful at this point), he could have options to continue his career in MLS or in Saudi Arabia:

Robert Lewandowski has received offers from both Saudi Arabia and MLS, prompting Barcelona to accelerate their plans to sign a replacement striker.

Manchester City could be seeking to give Erling Haaland a big raise (£500K per week) in hopes of building some goodwill with the Norwegian star:

Talks are ongoing between Manchester City and the representatives of striker Erling Haaland over a new contract, reports the Sunday Mirror. Negotiations are continuing over an improved deal worth £500,000-per-week, which would see his salary become the highest in the Premier League. City also want to remove or alter the existing £150 million release clause, and they could be willing to increase it to £200m. Haaland has previously been linked with Real Madrid, though speculation has cooled since their signing of France international Kylian Mbappé.

This could put a big dent in #Project2026. Might have to go back into the lab to concoct another “big scheme” for Bayern Munich.

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!