Report: Bayern Munich ready to shatter the €‎100m transfer barrier on a striker this summer

Bayern Munich are reportedly ready to break the bank to settle their striker ambitions, per a new report from Christian Falk. It brings full circle the cycle that saw the departure of Robert Lewandowski to FC Barcelona last summer and the resulting attempt to go into the season with less traditional options at striker.

The message? The odd rules are out the window and anything can go. “Bayern Munich will now be giving big money away,” Falk wrote, in a pointed departure to what had been longstanding but unwritten policy of not exceeding €100m on a single transfer.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, and Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani are said to top the shortlist for the Bavarians, and none of them are expected to be cheap. If Bayern do splurge, it will mark a second consecutive summer transfer window of heavy investment.

Or perhaps this is all a game of price pumping. Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United are reportedly in on the same target list as Bayern — great minds, right? Now clubs and agents will hope to play each club’s desperation off the other.

Bayern’s season began with Julian Nagelsmann employing Sadio Mané as part of a strike team alongside Serge Gnabry in a 4-2-2-2. But with results flagging, that system was eventually scrapped and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting emerged as a key player and lone striker. The Cameroonian earned a contract extension into next season, but after the club’s recent run of poor results — the latest a 3-1 unraveling at Mainz — the brass have long been reported to be fixated on upgrading at the position.

Who that will be, and how expensive the transfer pursuit will end up, remains to be seen.