Bayern Bits

By: Angela | April 15th, 2008

A roundup of what’s going on with Bayern.

01. They’re currently in search of a midfielder. As we all know, Roberto is only contracted through 2009 and thus far there is no news on him renewing his contract for any longer than he had intended when he re-signed. The press is doing what they do best and trying to spin it as a replacement for van Bommel and Roberto, but it’s not, thus far, a replacement for van Bommel. They have spoken to him about taking over the Captain position when Oli retires.

02. Lukas Podolski is now, officially, a proud Papa. He and Monika had their baby boy. Congrats to them both.

03. The best news, for me, aside from Bayern one day offering Mark a lifetime contract is that van Buyten will squash every Premier League teams hopes by staying in Munich. He has publicly come forward, along with his agent, and stated that he will be going nowhere. “Bayern are changing coach next season, with Jurgen Klinsmann coming in and Daniel is keen to see how things go under him,” agent Christophe Henrotay told Sky Sports. “He is feeling fine at Bayern and he is happy in Germany.” So it looks like our Belgian will be staying.

04. Jan Schlaudraff will be leaving Bayern in the summer transfer window. He has limited playing time due to Bayern already having Podolski, Klose and Toni. Now I won’t go into who deserves more playing time in Podolski vs Schlaudraff drama, but it will be sad to see him go. He’s been productive when he’s been afforded playing time. He has asked to leave and Bayern will not fight him to stay. Bayern general manager told Munich newspaper TZ: “Jan asked us to be allowed to leave the club. We have granted him his wish.” The player added: “I asked about my prospects at the club. It was said there weren’t any. Therefore I said that I want to go.” Evidently there have already been offers for him and a pretty solid offer from an un-named Bundesliga club and he just wants things to get sorted out quickly.

05. On Wednesday, Bayern will take on Eintracht Frankfurt and for this match we will have Franck Ribery back. Franck was rested at the weekend due to a foot injury he picked up in the UEFA match mid-week against Getafe. However, we will be missing Oliver Kahn. He is suffering from a shoulder injury, that he picked up at the weekend which is why Rensing played the second half. Rensing will make the start on Wed. which could be good news. In his ninteen appearances he has yet to lose a match. Either we have a good thing going with him or it’s about time for him to take a loss. I’m hopeful the good luck will continue.

06. Though we may have Franck Ribery back, we will be without Miroslav Klose who couldn’t take part in Tuesday’s training due to injury so he is unlikely for the Eintracht match. We will also be without Marcell Jansen. Hitzfeld has said he will play all the regulars that are fit.