Ah, Franck Ribery. If I were you, I would not be planning a trip to west London anytime soon.
On Wednesday quotes have emerged from Sport Bild that Ribery dismissed a move for Wolfsburg winger Kevin De Bruyne and suggested his Bayern Munich side should instead sign De Bruyne’s Belgian teammate: Eden Hazard.
[ RELATED: De Bruyne to Man City? ]
Asked about Hazard after describing De Bruyne as a player who doesn’t “take the ball and dribble forward” Ribery had the following to say about the 24-year-old Belgian international who has enjoyed a stellar season in the Premier League with Chelsea.
“He attacks all of the time. He loves to run at his opponent,” Ribery said. “But he plays at Chelsea - this could be very expensive for Bayern.”
With Ribery and Arjen Robben currently on the wings for the German champions, Bayern are pretty set. Right now. However both aren’t spring chickens (Ribery and Robben are 31 years old) and edging towards the twilight of their careers.
Perhaps Munich may plump to sign Hazard and De Bruyne in the coming 12 months? Eh, good luck with that. As Ribery pointed out, Hazard would demand a huge transfer fee (upwards of $80 million) and Chelsea would be mad to let him go with the Belgian just extending his contract in February until 2019.
When you look at Bayern’s other wide attacking options, if you take out Robben and Ribery, only Mario Gotze truly stands out as the “next in line” if you will, in the current squad. Youngsters Mitchell Weiser and Gianluca Gaudino are coming through but maybe Ribery’s comments point to Bayern’s upcoming transfer policy this summer.
Let’s wait and see what happens, as Borussia Dortmund’s fans at least know that winger Marco Reus isn’t being picked off by their rivals from down in Bavaria this summer (see: Gotze, Lewandowski) after the German international recently signed a new deal.
