Daily Schmankerl: Bayern Munich might lose out on prime transfer target; Borussia Dortmund hires Niko Kovač; No progress for Bayern on Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku; BVB wants Rayan Cherki; and MORE!

Bayern Munich executive Max Eberl might already have lost one of his primary transfer targets for the summer transfer window.

RB Leipzig was reportedly close to secure a permanent transfer of Xavi Simons from Paris Saint-Germain per Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg:

BREAKING: RB Leipzig will sign #Xavi on permanent deal ✔️

Contract until 2027. Transfer fee: €50m + add-ons as per @philipphinze24 and @BILD_rbleipzig.

Transfer fee can rise to €80m with bonus payments. But it is rather unrealistic that this amount will be reached.

RB Leipzig would formally announce the move, too:

Sport Bild journalist Christian Falk is reporting that RB Leipzig could still sell Simons this summer, which might still allow Eberl to get his man:

Borussia Dortmund officially hired former Bayern Munich boss Niko Kovač and gave him a deal through 2026:

So…if you want to be optimistic about this, you can say it is a case of two broken entities looking to fix each other. However, as we know, Kovač is very particular, has high standards, and is very demanding. Going to a team with a very questionable mentality, this could be an absolute disaster.

The Bundesliga needs a good Borussia Dortmund, but there is so much that needs to be fixed with the club at the moment. It is tough to think that Kovač is going to be the guy to do it.

Bayern Munich is in the middle of quite a few things at the moment, so let’s try to tackle some of the most pertinent topics of discussion. Here is what we have on tap for this edition of the Weekend Warm-up Show:

• Mathys Tel’s transfer situation is a failure by the club, the coaching staff, and the player. None of them had a plan for this season and it led to this.
• If Tottenham Hotspur wants to pay a crazy fee for Tel, Bayern Munich should sell him.
• No one should be calling for Vincent Kompany’s head, but he does need to be held accountable for the team’s performances of late — and his man management, which is leaving a lot to be desired.
• Niko Kovač was hired by Borussia Dortmund…is that a good fit?
• Bayern Munich could miss out Xavi Simons as he looks likely to make a permanent move to RB Leipzig.

Jan-Niklas Beste is making the move to SC Freiburg from Benfica:

⚫️ DONE DEAL | Jan-Niklas #Beste will join SC Freiburg!

The 26 y/o winger will pass his medical on Friday. Transfer fee: €8m + €1m add-ons. Contract at least until 2029.

Total agreement with SL Benfica has been reached in the last 48 hours. Verbal agreement with the player was done. It was planned that he would travel to Freiburg after the game against Juventus.

Exclusive news from last week, set to be confirmed soon. ✔️

Borussia Dortmund could be looking to make a move for Lyon’s Rayan Cherki:

Rayan Cherki (21/ ) will remain a topic at #DeadlineDay #BVB ). Dortmund are discussing the offensive player intensively internally – and are no longer as divided as they were in the summer.

At that time, Nuri Sahin vetoed it, now Niko Kovac is there and has a say in Cherki, among other things…

#BVB wants to make two more transfers – an attacker and a defender. According to Sky information, one could be bought and one could be loaned.

Contact with the player’s side has been maintained. Cherki is allowed to leave Olympique Lyon for € 22.5m via a verbal agreement, as exclusively reported. He is one of the top earners at OM with around € 5-6m.

In addition to #BVB other clubs are interested in Cherki.

Borussia Dortmund needs to do something to shake up its squad…is Cherki that kind of player?

Bayern Munich knew what was at stake against Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League and got three points.

However, the Bavarians did not catch all of the breaks needed for a top eight finish and will now looks toward the playoff round of the competition for the next step.

Bayern Munich was convincing in capturing a 3-1 victory and the game did leave a lot of discussion fodder. Let’s talk about how it all went down and more on the Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show. This is what we have on tap:

• A look at the starting XI and what was surprising. (Hint: Who needs center-backs?)
• A rundown of the scoring and substitutions.
• Some final thoughts and takeaways on the match.

When Victor Boniface was close to joining Al Nassr, Evan Ferguson was linked to Bayer Leverkusen. When the Boniface move fell through, so did the Ferguson rumors:

Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich performed well enough to earn a spot on WhoScored.com’s Champions League Team of the Week:

The Bundesliga Rundown is about to turn 20! But before that, this episode will highlight Matchday 19, which, according to Marcus, was the most exciting one yet!

This episode will tackle the following questions:

• Is Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz the best player on the planet?
• Has Bayern Munich already won the league?
• Is Freiburg’s defence too shaky for them to secure a European spot?
• Should Dortmund hire Ange Postecoglou or Erik ten Hag?
• … and much more!

With Aston Villa’s Jhon Durán likely headed to Al Nassr, the potential deal that would have sent Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface to the Middle East is now off the table:

Jhon #Duran and Aston Villa have reached a total agreement with @AlNassrFC

about a permanent deal. Confirmed.

❗️However, the contracts have not been signed yet. That is planned to happen on Thursday after the medical, which is still pending.

As revealed per @TheAthletic and @Santi_J_FM, the clubs agreed a transfer fee of €75-77m + add-ons. With a contract until 2030 ready to sign.

Leverkusen boss Simon Rolfes about Victor #Boniface deal collapsed: „The circumstances did not lead to him being transferred (…) The current situation is that he will most likely stay.”

Mainz 05 extended the contract of Bo Henricksen, who has done a very solid job with the team this season. There might not be a coach who has been more impactful in the Bundesliga this season:

Bayern Munich bounced back with a win over SC Freiburg, but not everything is sitting pretty at the moment.

The Bavarians are not exactly a well-oiled machine in the attack at the moment and the coach has been a bit resistant to rotate. It can get a lot better, but will it? We think so, but the club is going to have to do a better job of moving on from things that don’t work. Let’s dive in. This is what we have on tap for this episode of the Bavarian Podcast Works Show:

• Some final takeaways on Bayern Munich’s win over SC Freiburg.
• Is Bayern Munich setting the bar too low for itself? Does the club need to separate itself from underachieving players?
• Transfer deadline takes on Jonas Urbig, Mathys Tel, Christopher Nkunku, Dean Huijsen.
• Maybe less is more when it comes to talking about Joshua Kimmich’s future.

Bayern Munich is not necessarily out of the running for Christopher Nkunku, but there has not been much movement either:

Marcus Rashford really wants to make the move to FC Barcelona, but it is unclear whether the Catalans will make a move:

– Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford is willing to wait as long as it takes for Barcelona make a move as he has his heart set on joining them, reports the Daily Star. The 27-year-old has received interest from across Europe, Saudi Arabia and MLS but is determined to move to Camp Nou and will hold out until deadline day for the loan to go through. However, his £350,000-per-week wages are a stumbling block. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reports that Rashford’s camp hopes that the breakdown in his relationship with manager Ruben Amorim could see United lower their demands.

Aston Villa could be kicking the tires on Chelsea attacker João Félix:

Aston Villa are one of many clubs monitoring Chelsea forward João Félix heading into the final days of the winter transfer window. The 25-year-old’s agent, Jorge Mendes, has been talking to various clubs, with the Portugal international having started just nine matches across all competitions this season.