Way open to sign Tolisso

There is some uneasiness in the offices of the Allianz Arena. And is not for less. Bayern Munich’s board of directors, currently headed by the club’s former goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, is aware that a story that perplexed the Bundesliga champions’ fans last summer may repeat itself. Austrian David Alaba, one of Bayern’s flagships for more than a decade, did not accept the club’s offer to renew his contract and He went to the Santiago Bernabéu without leaving a penny in the Munich coffers. Bad business these days. Especially if now, a year later, those in white keep open the option of going for another Bavarian player who is free at the end of the season.

This is Corentin Tolisso (27), a French midfielder who, in his day, became the most expensive signing of an entity known for its sanity when it came to going to the market. A total of 41.5 million euros entered Bayern in the accounts of Olympique de Lyon for a player who, now, four and a half years later and like Alaba, has Bayern in his hand. Prone to injuries and without too many minutes due to the great competition in a midfield led by German internationals Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, the sports management parked his renewal last season and he preferred to resolve the future of other players, a priori more key to his scheme, such as his own Kimmich or Kingsley Coman. A mistake.

What has happened over the past few months may even have surprised Bayern’s own leadership. Tolisso, after recovering from Covid in early January, was chosen by coach Julian Nagelsmann to replace the injured Goretzka in the double pivot alongside Kimmich. The Frenchman, aware of the opportunity that was presented to him, took the bull by the horns, offered his best version on the pitch and put the icing on his performance with two goals in the last two games before the current break. Fine in the pass, safe in duels and with a lot of goals, Tolisso has earned the fact that the board, now yes, considers it an urgent task to renew him. And right here Real Madrid enters the scene.

It is not the first time that Tolisso has been placed in the whites’ orbit. In December, Bruno Alemany assured on Cadena SER that the Frenchman was on the list of a Real Madrid that, In this way, it would continue its modus operandi when signing at zero cost. “Tolisso’s environment takes it for granted that he will end up at Real Madrid,” explained the rector, also adding that the footballer’s wish is to give a change of scenery and not continue wearing the clothes of the six-time European champion. A month later and with a Tolisso unleashed on the green, in Germany they once again emphasize the interest of a Real Madrid that, if the operation were carried out, would be reinforced through a direct rival in Europe at zero cost.

Nagelsmann, technical director of the club, has been fighting internally for some time to retain Tolisso. Of course, the board seems to have been slow to see what the coach did see in Tolisso. “He has a lot of spirit and enormous power. He is one of those players that I always like to have on my team,” said Nagelsmann about the midfielder who, thanks to the coach’s confidence, is bringing out all his power. “If he stays in shape, he will have a lot of impact on our team and will contribute his grain of sand to our successes,” added Nagelsmann, without forgetting the player’s Achilles heel: “In the end, it is important that he is healthy. We see in all the training sessions the quality that hides in his boots”.

On the main floor of the Allianz they seem to see Tolisso with different eyes now. “After all the injuries he’s had, it’s amazing to see the level of performance he’s playing football at right now,” Kahn praised him recently. “I think he showed what he is capable of in Cologne and Berlin. Nothing better could happen to us than our players performing at the highest level and, in this way, offering themselves over and over again to the coach,” he stressed. The club did not take long to resume negotiations with the player’s entourage, but, apparently, Real Madrid has also taken a look at him as a possible reinforcement for a position in which both Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are already entering the end of their careers. The latter being, by the way, another bargain that Real Madrid stole from Bayern in 2014 in exchange for only 25 million euros.