Daily Schmankerl: Bayern Munich can’t cheap out on Joshua Kimmich; Pep Guardiola wants big changes at Manchester City, wants Omar Marmoush; Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala honored; FC Barcelona eyeing Angelo Stiller?; and MORE!

Markus Babbel knows the business end of football and when he looks at Bayern Munich’s situation with Joshua Kimmich, the 52-year-old pundit thinks that the Bavarians are going to have to open their coffers.

“It will be exciting to see how Bayern want to do this. On the one hand, they want to save money and on the other hand: If you want to make Kimmich the face of the club, the captain and the successor to Thomas Müller, why should he earn less than he does now? That doesn’t fit together,” said Babbel. “Whether he likes Munich or not: ultimately, you get appreciation through your salary.”

Babbel also added that Bayern Munich would have to “spend horrendous amounts of money on alternatives” to find a capable replacement for Kimmich.

During the Thomas Tuchel Era, stories broke regarding Kimmich feeling a lack of support from club executives. Factoring in that, plus having to move to right-back at various points during the past few seasons, Kimmich likely entered this campaign with a massive chip on his shoulder. Maybe that has powered his stellar play, maybe not…but either way, Bayern Munich is going to have to pay a premium for him to suit back up for the team next season.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola might want to overhaul his roster a bit:

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has issued his club with a five-man wanted list, which includes Martín Zubimendi, Bruno Guimarães, Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz and Marc Guéhi, according to the Sunday Times. The Spaniard is looking to freshen things up after a worrying run of just one win in the past 13 games that has seen City fall 14 points behind league leaders Liverpool. Real Sociedad star Zubimendi, 25, and Newcastle United’s Guimarães, 27, would provide City with cover for the injured Rodri, though both could be problematic.

Zubimendi has already rejected a move to Liverpool, while Guimarães could be prohibitively expensive given his importance to the Magpies. Crystal Palace rejected bids of £70m for Guéhi, 24, in the summer, while Musiala and Wirtz, both 21, and who would offer City attacking options, could be difficult to prise from Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, respectively.

Another option to help enforce change at City could be Eintracht Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush per French journalist Santi Aouna. Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal FC, and Liverpool FC are all interested in Marmoush as well:

Manchester City sent a contract proposal to the agent of Omar Marsmoush

❗️ The Egyptian is interested to the move and Man City’s project

Marmoush has already talk with the board of Manchester City

⚠️ Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool are interested but the winger prefers, for the moment, Manchester City

Bayern Munich is officially back in action as training kicked off on Thursday. There is much to talk about with that, but also even more to discuss now that the January transfer window is open.

Let’s get right to it! This is what we have on tap for the Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show:

• Bayern Munich is back in training, so let’s talk about who is in and who is still out.
• Frans Krätzig has returned from VfB Stuttgart, but could go right back out on loan. Who else could join him?
• Listener Q&A involving predictions for Bayern Munich’s free agents, plus a question on the wing situation — and who might be a good buy for the Bavarians.
• A quick Entertainment Rundown — yup, we watched the second season of Squid Game. We won’t spoil anything, but season two lived up to the expectations.

Bayern Munich stars Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala were named to Sofascore’s Top 5 Leagues Team of 2024. The duo joined fellow Bundesliga stars Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen) and Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund).

In addition, Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City via RB Leipzig) and Mark Flekken (Brentford via SC Freiburg) are BuLi alums:

Angelo Stiller could not break through at Bayern Munich while Hansi Flick was the coach, but the midfielder might be willing to work with his old boss again:

Reported Barcelona target Angelo Stiller, a defensive midfielder for Stuttgart, says he is ignoring rumors linking him with a move.

The Winterpause allows us some time to reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly from the first half of the season at Bayern Munich.

In this three-part series for Bavarian Podcast Works, we will breakdown each position group — Attack, Midfield, Defense — discuss each player and provide rating for how we feel they have played so far this season.

Chuck and Samrin break down the defensive group. Here is some of what the duo discussed on the show:

• A breakdown of the vast list of players, who we could not rate because we did not see enough of them.
• A look at why Manuel Neuer might be a lot more maligned than he deserves — and why Daniel Peretz needs to show more if he wants to be “The Next One.”
• Alphonso Davies has been a lot better, but is he in the midst of a “contract year” or is this the real Davies awakened from a three-year slumber?
• The best and the worst of Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae.
• Ratings on all of the players.

Aston Villa and Borussia Dortmund look to be far apart in a deal for Donyell Malen:

RB Leipzig is looking to strengthen the right-back position after the loss of Benjamin Henrichs due to injury and is keeping an eye on Wolfsburg’s Ridle Baku (remember when he was a coveted prospect) and Red Bull Salzburg’s Amar Dedić:

RB Leipzig could be in an advantageous position to get Baku as Wolfsburg could almost be forced to sell:

RB Leipzig and VfL Wolfsburg remain in direct talks about a transfer of Ridle #Baku ✔️

But both clubs are still far apart in their transfer fee expectations. But Baku/Leipzig remains a hot topic.

@philipphinze24 Wolfsburg must decide whether to sell him now for a transfer fee or most likely lose him for free in the summer.

Bayern Munich is getting some much needed rest and relaxation, but Bavarian Podcast Works is still embracing the grind.

Our latest Bavarian Podcast Works show tackles some of the hottest topics at the moment, so let’s hop right into it. This is what we have on tap:

• The end could be near for the Alphonso Davies transfer saga. Will he re-up with Bayern Munich or will he sign with Real Madrid?
• A listener Q&A segment that harkened back to 2012 and a Robert Lewandowski injury, while also touching on a potential Bayern Munich acquisition of Tom Bischof, and some quality Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz discussion.
• A look at those rumors linking Bayern Munich to Paris Saint-Germain’s Randal Kolo Muani and Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo.