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Ahead of German Supercup
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On Saturday, German Cup holders VfB Stuttgart will host Bundesliga record champions Bayern Munich for the first edition of the Franz Beckenbauer-Supercup. The match between the 2025 DFB Pokal winner and 2025 Bundesliga winner is, however, overshadowed by several transfer stories. The biggest one has been Bayern Munich’s public courting of Stuttgart forward Nick Woltemade. Stuttgart have blocked a move thus far, and the forward completed the final training session ahead of the match on Friday. As signing Woltemade remains difficult, Bayern have now started talks with Chelsea to sign Christopher Nkunku.
How did we get here? Bayern Munich have been trying to sign Woltemade since last March, but Stuttgart have successfully blocked any attempt by the Rekordmeister. Earlier this weekend, a high-profile meeting between Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen and Stuttgart CEO Alexander Wehrle went nowhere. Bayern Munich offered €55m plus €5m in add-ons and a sell-on clause. Stuttgart wants €70m plus €5m in add-ons. The same fee Bayern paid for Luis Díaz. In Stuttgart’s eyes, the sell-on clause is worthless as players seldom leave Bayern for big transfer fees. As a response, Woltemade’s agent, Danny Bachmann from Headtrick, delivered some strong words in the media on Wednesday regarding the recent status of negotiations.
“In March 2024 and most recently in mid-June, VfB made a clear commitment to a solution-oriented approach as soon as the next career step is possible,” Bachmann said to DPA. “For an ambitious German international, a move to the record German champions and regular Champions League participants is an enormous opportunity. The solution demanded by Mr. Wehrle this week, within a questionable deadline, was delivered today with the total package from the interested party and the player's side totaling more than €60 million plus a sell-on clause. The [VfB] supervisory board's response was a demand for an unmarketable €75 million for a player who joined on a free transfer.” Woltemade, who is one of the rising stars in Germany, has a market value of €35m. Stuttgart's demands would have made Woltemade the third most expensive signing in Bayern's history.
Woltemade deal dead? Bayern in talks with Chelsea for Nkunku
Although the deal appeared to be dead, Bayern Munich tried to keep channels to Stuttgart open ahead of the SuperCup. But further talks remained fruitless, and Transfermarkt was told by sources that Woltemade is expected to remain a Stuttgart player this season. That fits, as Transfermarkt has also learned that Bayern Munich director of sport Max Eberl has opened talks with Chelsea to sign Christopher Nkunku. Capable of playing on the left, as a no.10, and as a center-forward, Nkunku could both replace Kingsley Coman, who is set to join Al-Nassr, act as a backup to Harry Kane, and also replace the injured Jamal Musiala.
On paper at least, Nkunku would be the perfect target, especially as Chelsea are desperate to generate funds to sign Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig. The problem is that Bayern thus far are unwilling to sign Nkunku on a permanent transfer. The Bundesliga giants have some concerns regarding the 27-year-old’s fitness. Indeed, a glance at the Transfermarkt database reveals that Nkunku has struggled with injuries ever since he suffered a knee injury ahead of the 2022 World Cup. Since then, Nkunku has missed 76 competitive club and national team games. A staggering amount. As a result, Bayern Munich prefer a loan deal. Chelsea, however, need to sell the player to be able to move ahead with their own targets this summer. A complicated situation with many moving parts that is unlikely to be resolved ahead of the first-ever Franz-Beckenbauer-Supercup on Saturday.
