Weekend Warm-up: Will Bayern Munich take another run at Chelsea’s Kai Havertz this summer?; Bundesliga predict…

As Bayern Munich searched for a post-Robert Lewandowski solution last summer, the club kicked the tires on a number of players. Liverpool’s Darwin Núñez (then with Benfica) and Wolverhampton’s Saša Kalajdžić (then with VfB Stuttgart) were two of the more prominent players mentioned, but there were some whispers that the Bavarians were also interested in Chelsea FC attacker Kai Havertz.

The Germany international has been a longtime target for Bayern Munich and it does not appear that much has changed. Sport Bild’s Christian Falk confirmed the story of Bayern Munich’s willingness to bring in Havertz — and also that Chelsea rejected the overtures from the Bavarians:

The hype surrounding Julian Nagelsmann’s 4-2-2-2 system seems to have died down and with the recent move to a 4-2-3-1 proving that this cast of attackers can help elevate the level of player for an individual striker, Bayern Munich could be willing to go back to London one more time.

This is not a knock on Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who has been the center-point of all of the recent excellent service and playmaking surrounding him, but the 33-year-old is no spring chicken, has an expiring contract, and is really not a viable long-term solution for the club’s No. 9 woes. Choupo-Moting is the man of the hour, but not the next decade.

So what’s next?

Should Nagelsmann start to transition back to a more prototypical formation (4-2-3-1) for Bayern Munich, a striker will be needed. Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane is nothing more than a pipedream at this stage and finding another striker of that caliber is extremely difficult — unless Bayern Munich can convince FC Barcelona to sell Robert Lewandowski back to the Bavarians (Barca needs the cash, right?) or CEO Oliver Kahn is going to approve a monster “We’ll do it live” bid to Manchester City for Erling Haaland.

Realistically, those things are not going to happen, so the club will get back to looking closely at options it feels comfortable with and Havertz is one of those.

While not necessarily a true striker, Havertz has the body type (and maybe some room for gains with some help from Leon Goretzka) to develop into such a role. Havertz already has the requisite speed and skill, but needs to embrace the mentality of being a target man.

Will he be able to do that?

It is extremely unclear, but it seems like Bayern Munich might be willing to take a chance if Chelsea becomes more willing to sell the German. Given the constant state of flux of players on that roster and the fact that owner Todd Boehly wants to make a big splash, the sale of Havertz could be more feasible next summer.

Would you be willing to take a chance on Havertz as your future No. 9 at Bayern Munich?

Poll

Would you be good with Kai Havertz as a the No. 9 of the future at Bayern Munich?

This poll is closed

31%
Yes – I love his potential in the role.
(152 votes)
13%
Yeah, I guess – Right now there is not a better plan.
(64 votes)
25%
Meh – It would be okay, but I am not convinced.
(126 votes)
24%
No – I don’t seem him as a striker. He’s still more of attacking midfielder or wing.
(119 votes)
5%
Hell no – This won’t work.
(28 votes)

489 votes total

Vote Now

Bavarian Podcast Works: Weekend Warm-up Podcast Season 2, Episode 17

Bayern Munich had another strong week in dispatching both Hoffenheim and FC Barcelona (LOL) and the squad looks — dare I say — very good.

Julian Nagelsmann is pushing all of the right buttons and the boys are responding, so there is plenty to talk about with that subject alone…but we’ve got even more! This is what we have on tap for this episode:

A look at Bayern Munich’s ever-improving form.
The emergence of Matthijs de Ligt as a force to be reckoned with on the backline.
Why the move back to a 4-2-3-1 seems inevitable.
Does Robert Lewandowski regret his move to FC Barcelona?
İlkay Gündoğan to Bayern Munich? Nah…that can’t be happening can it?
A look at the House of the Dragon season finale and why reading the books might have made it painful for some.

Song of the Week: “Send Me An Angel” by Real Life

It was an 80s kind of morning, so we went with a tune you might have heard in one of the seminal teen movies from that era: “Rad” (which was about BMX racing — seriously, does it get any more 80s than this song and a movie about BMX racing?).

Anyway, this song has an odd history. Originally released in 1983, it was re-released in 1989 to more acclaim, and gained even more recognition as part of the Grand Theft Audio video game franchise.

Enjoy:

This song also always makes me laugh because my buddy “Mac” always hits the “Ooooh we ooooh” part of the song in a high pitch. For whatever reason, this song was in heavy rotation on my old gym’s satellite station (or whatever they used before SiriusXM) back in the early aughts.

Entertainment Rundown

House of the Dragon

There it was…the season finale of HBO’s House of the Dragon. There was some good, some bad, and some ugly (you thought I was going with the theme song from The Facts of Life didn’t you?), so let’s get to it (as a reminder, I’m taking this solely as a TV viewer and not a book reader):

Regardless of what anyone thinks about the episode, a lot of people watched it live in the United States:

After so much of the “Greens” last week, we saw an episode based exclusively on what is going on with the “Blacks.”
There were two scenes that were painfully too long: 1) The stillborn child birth scene and 2) The scene of Queen Rhaenyra walking in her crown. Both were unnecessarily long — for different reasons.
The “map table” at Dragonstone being lit up by candles underneath was a nice touch.
Viserys not telling Daemon…or anyone else alive — aside of Rhaenyra — about “A Song of Ice and Fire” seemed like a risk, eh?
Seeing Prince Daemon sing in Old Velaryon to woo the “unclaimed” dragon, Vermithor, was pretty cool.
As soon as Prince Aemond was seen with Lord Boremund Baratheon (played by Julian Lewis Jones, who really captured the essence of a Baratheon perfectly in just a brief amount of time on the screen), you just knew there would be some sort of conflict — and that it would end badly for everyone.
One major flaw with the casting is that Prince Aemond and his “Strong” cousins are not supposed to be that far apart in age, But Aemond looks a good 10-15 years older than them (at least to me). The Strongs look sooooooo young in comparison. That was a major brick in the re-casting to me.
The foreshadowing was dripping, the plot was very predictable, but the moment delivered anyway. Aemond has clearly grown up with a chip on his shoulder about a million things (getting a dragon late, being behind Aegon the Elder in line for the Iron Throne, having his eye plucked out by a group of his cousins), so his built-in rage was no surprise.
One of the amazing things that George R.R. Martin has done with his plots is weaving in just how one hastily made or anger-fueled decision can set off a massive chain reaction of events. Prince Aemond deciding to take his huge dragon Vhagar and toy with Lucerys and his mini-dragon, Arrax was just that (per the television series…the books seem to have a different account of Aemond’s intentions):

It should be noted that Lucerys was shown trying to convince to Arrax to just move along, but the young dragon felt threatened and did not listen.
Of course, this ends horrifically as Arrax panics and spews fire at Vhagar, who is less than thrilled, gets pissed, disobeys Aemond, and basically chomps Arrax and Lucerys in half.
My guess is that we see Season Two open up with Prince Daemon leveling a city with his new, big dragon.
The final scene of the season is Daemon relaying the news of Lucerys’ death to Rhaenyra and her face is…ready for war.

I will say, I am glad I went into this ignorant of the true tale told in the book. In speaking to my guy Phillip Quinn, he was not so happy about some of the changes that were made and insisted they were for the worse. I totally get that and it truly is one of the reasons I have avoided touching any of Martin’s work. In general, the original story always seems to tell a tale the best (there are some exceptions of course) and even the slightest changes to a character’s motivation can set off a chain of events that take away from a major plotline. For the non-reader purposes, the decisions that characters made had some rationale behind them, but to book readers, I can totally see why they would be upset.
Overall, this season had some ups and some downs, some troubles with pacing (sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow), a lack of time to really show the depth of characters, and probably left the audience to make way too many assumptions, but I found myself “in” and looking forward to another season by the end of this set of episodes. It was not the greatest HBO series (and it certainly wasn’t the worst). It has room to grow and resides in a universe that kept audiences riveted for years until it flamed out horribly. There are plenty of issues, but for now, I am willing to look past them and just be entertained.

What were your impressions of the season?

Finally…does anyone really have interest in this?

Bavarian Podcast Works: Preview Show — Bayern Munich vs. Mainz 05

After Bayern Munich bounced FC Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League, the boys from Bavaria will now move on to face off with Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga.

Our guy Marcus Iredahl took the mic for this episode and this is what he has on tap:

A look the recent form of Bayern Munich and Mainz 05.
Some players to watch on Mainz and why the Carnival Club could create some issues for Bayern Munich.
A look at a potential lineup for Bayern Munich.
A prediction on the match.
A prediction that Jamal Musiala will officially usurp Thomas Müller’s role as Bayern Munich’s starting No. 10.
Some thoughts on how the World Cup might affect Bayern Munich.

Predictions

This is a perfect letdown game for Bayern Munich after riding the highs of smoking FC Barcelona at Camp Nou…but I just don’t see the Bavarians succumbing to Mainz 05 in this match.

Sure, Mainz is just pesky enough to make life hell for Bayern Munich, but the two clubs will also be meeting in the next round of the DFB-Pokal. If Die Nullfünfer is going to make one, all-out push against Bayern Munich, it likely will save all its tricks for that match.

For this weekend, I’m expecting Bayern Munich to stay hot and played with some energy — even after an emotional victory in Catalonia.

Prediction: Bayern Munich 4-1 Mainz 05

Other Bundesliga predictions include:

Werder Bremen 1-2 Hertha Berlin
RB Leipzig 3-2 Bayer Leverkusen
VfB Stuttgart 1-2 FC Augsburg
FC Köln 1-2 Hoffenheim
Wolfsburg 3-1 VfL Bochum
SC Freiburg 3-0 Schalke 04
Union Berlin 1-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Eintracht Frankfurt 2-3 Borussia Dortmund

Champions League

Neither team has much to play for here. Both are going through to the knockout stage, so this is a “pride” game. Avoiding a letdown, staying focused on maintaining good form, and looking to put away a quality opponent are all things that should be of the utmost importance. Right now, there is no reason to think that Bayern Munich will not be able to stay on course.

Prediction: Bayern Munich 3-1 Inter Milan