Bayern join Liverpool in race for €25m Bundesliga ace
Cameron Smith
- 12 Oct 2023 09:10 BST
- 4 min read
Bayern Munich are interested in signing Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Kouadio ‘Manu’ Kone as Thomas Tuchel’s search for a midfielder goes on.
The Bayern boss set his sights on a new defensive midfielder during the summer transfer window, but failed with pursuits of both Scott McTominay and Joao Palhinha.
The latter travelled to Bavaria on Transfer Deadline Day, but Fulham did not sanction a sale so late in the window and he has now signed a contract extension at Craven Cottage.
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Bild’s Christian Falk has now reported that Bayern have turned their attention to Kone, who stayed at Gladbach this summer despite heavy interest from clubs across Europe.
Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain were both linked with a move for the 22-year-old, but Liverpool were the club with the highest level of interest.
In fact, back in June, FootballTransfers reported that Kone was one of the Reds’ most pressing transfer targets.
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In the end, Jurgen Klopp’s side decided to sign Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo to complete their midfield overhaul, with Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all leaving.
Liverpool still want Kone
Despite the addition of four new central midfielders during the most recent transfer window, however, Liverpool are still interested in signing Kone, according to Bild.
As such they are Bayern’s biggest rivals for the Gladbach star, who has only featured twice for Die Fohlen this campaign due to a knee injury.
In September, Fabrizio Romano, via The Footballer, reported that Gladbach would be willing to lower their asking price for Kone from over €40 million to around the €25m mark.
That price would represent a far more achievable fee for both Bayern and Liverpool, with Kone into the final two years of his contract at Monchengladbach.
Despite their four midfield arrivals, Liverpool missed out on several key targets during the summer, including Khephren Thuram, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia and Kone.
