Why Man Utd Fans Shouldn’t Be Getting Excited About Growing Jerome Boateng Rumours

?Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng is reportedly part of an eight-man shortlist of centre-backs that Manchester United are looking at this summer to boost their squad ahead of a crucial 2018/19 season in which the aim is to catch Manchester City, ironically Boateng’s old club.

It had recently been reported in Germany that Boateng, a Champions League and World Cup winner, is one of four players that Bayern could be willing to let go for the right price.

FC Bayern Muenchen v VfB Stuttgart - Bundesliga

That was confirmed when Bayern chairman Karl Heinz Rummenigge said,” If a club comes to us and he says that he wants to join that club, then we will negotiate. But the offer has to be important.”

Suddenly, fans and a frenzied media were asking themselves could United be in a position to sign a defender generally regarded as world class?

Boateng is undoubtedly an excellent player, as his reputation and medal collection proves. But there is one major problem that has so far been ignored by the reports linking him with United.

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This is a player who comes complete with a concerning fitness record. He hasn’t played more than 20 games in a single league since 2014/15 and has never played more than 30. During an injury plagued 2016/17 campaign, he managed as few as 21 appearances in all competitions.

His latest problem struck in the Champions League semi final first leg against Real Madrid at the end of April. He had to be helped from the field by Bayern medical staff after just half hour because of a hamstring injury that ruled him out of the rest of the season.

Bayern lost that game and the tie without Boateng, before also going on to lose the DFB Pokal final at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt.

Bayern Muenchen v Real Madrid - UEFA Champions League Semi Final Leg One

Can United afford to rely on a marquee defender whose season is constantly stop-start because of injury and fitness troubles? The answer is no and Jose Mourinho, who is distrusts injured players, as former Chelsea captain John Terry recalled in an interview earlier this year, will be well aware.

“There was a couple of times I was injured, not available for a couple of games coming up. Jose would come in, he wouldn’t even speak to me in the treatment room. He’d go around and speak to everybody, and walk out of the room and leave me,” Terry told the Coaches’ Voice in January.

“As captain of the football club, I was there thinking: ‘Why has he not spoken to me?’ I said to the physio: ‘I’m training tomorrow. I can’t have the manager not speaking to me.’ He knew exactly what he was doing.”

Chelsea v Manchester United - The Emirates FA Cup Final

Eric Bailly’s United career has stalled after picking up injury after injury and losing the trust of the manager, while Marcos Rojo, previously a favourite, hasn’t really been back in the side since recovering from his serious knee problem.

United may well be looking into the possibility of signing Boateng. That Bayern would be willing to sell him will also have come as good news. But, ultimately, when push comes to shove and a decision has to be made, will Mourinho choose a player he won’t be able to rely on? No.

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‘I Will Take Bets’: Bayern Munich CEO Talks Up Chances of Robert Lewandowski Remaining With Club

?Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has bullishly claimed that he’s so confident that club talisman Robert Lewandowski will spurn the chance to move to ?Real Madrid that he’s willing to take bets on the outcome.

As reported by ESPN, the Polish international is thought to be weighing up his options ahead of the 2018/19 campaign, and was at one stage hotly tipped to leave the club. However, Rummenigge has scoffed at the claims, stating: “I said weeks ago that I am taking bets on Lewandowski staying and I am still taking them today.

FC Bayern Muenchen Celebrate Winning The Bundesliga

“The two boards [of Real Madrid and Bayern] had lunch together at both [Champions League semi-final] games and Lewandowski wasn’t a topic of conversation at either of the meals. In the past, we had a player that [Madrid president Florentino Perez] was highly interested in. But we closed the door on that, and from this episode, I know that he would be open about it.

“It wouldn’t interest us anyway even if he did ask about Lewandowski. We as a club made a firm decision and that still applies.”

Lewandowski has been with Bayern Munich for four seasons since joining from fellow ?Bundesliga side ?Borussia Dortmund in 2014. Since making the switch, he has become one of the most feared forwards in world football – notching up a monumental 151 goals in 195 performances in all competitions.

On the international front, the 29-year-old is the star player of the Poland side, and will be looking to make a big impact at the ?World Cup, as his side take on Senegal, Japan and Colombia in Group H. The former Lech Pozna? also has a strong scoring record at international level, having netted 55 times in 95 games for Bia?o-Czerwoni.

Poland v Chile - International Friendly


In other news, ?Manchester United have been handed a major boost in their pursuit of Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng, after Rummenigge claimed in an interview that he’s willing to listen to offers for the German international. United are desperate to strengthen their defence this summer, and Boateng could offer the defensively solidity they have been craving.

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Agent of German Starlet Timo Werner Claims Bayern Munich’s Interest in Forward Dates Back to 2014

?The agent of RB Leipzig and Germany striker Timo Werner, Karlheinz Forster, has claimed that ?Bayern Munich’s interest in the 22-year-old goes back to 2014.

Werner is one of football’s hottest prospects, and is set to lead the line for Joachim Low’s side at the ?World Cup in Russia, fresh off the back of a fine season for Die Roten Bullen, scoring 21 goals and providing 10 assists – alerting some of Europe’s biggest clubs in the process.

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One side extensively linked with Werner is ?Bundesliga champions Bayern, although after the comments made by Forster to German publication ?Sport Bild, it appears it isn’t the first time that Die Roten have kept tabs on the pacey forwar, after speaking to then technical director Michael Reschke.

In 2014, when Michael Reschke started at Bayern, there was loose contact with Timo regarding Munich. At that time it would not have been a good idea, but Timo’s step would not have been the right one.” Forster said.

“Reschke saw the enormous potential of Werner. Both decided that a change to Munich would come too early. In 2016, Werner moved to RB Leipzig, initial talks on an extension of his contract until 2020 remained fruitless.”

Werner was an emerging talent in 2014, plying his trade at VfB Stuttgart, finishing the 2013/14 Bundesliga season with four goals and five assists despite still being a teenager at the time, and opted against a move to the Allianz Arena in turn for regular football in the formative years of his career.

Now a well-known name however, it seems that the links to Bavaria refuse to go away, although Werner has spoken about the issue, claiming: “If anything, this will be an issue only after the tournament.”

VfB Stuttgart v Hannover 96 - Bundesliga

Now a well-known name however, it seems that the links to Bavaria refuse to go away, although Werner has spoken about the issue, claiming; “If anything, this will be an issue only after the tournament.”

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Germany Legend Oliver Kahn Reveals His Pick for Die Mannschaft’s Starting World Cup Goalkeeper

Former Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has revealed that he would start ?Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen ahead of Manuel Neuer in Die Mannschaft’s opening World Cup game against Mexico on Sunday. 

Joachim Löw has been handed a selection headache following Neuer’s return to fitness. The ?Bayern Munich goalkeeper hasn’t played a competitive game since September, when he suffered a metatarsal fracture, but was included in Germany’s 23-man World Cup squad, and featured heavily in recent friendlies to Austria and Saudi Arabia. 

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Marc-Andre ter Stegen, on the other hand, was an ever-present figure for ?La Liga champions Barcelona last season, starting 37 of their 38 league games. He was also Germany’s starting goalkeeper in Neuer’s absence. 

Germany’s team manager Oliver Bierhoff revealed in late May, however, that Neuer would be the world champions’ number one in Russia. 

He said, as quoted by the ?BBC“Manuel will go to the World Cup as our number one, If he makes the squad then Marc-Andre [ter Stegen] will be number two. Manuel is already full on track. He does not need to get back on it.”

Legendary keeper Oliver Kahn, who made 86 appearances for Germany between 1995 and 2006, has revealed that he would instead opt to start Ter Stegen, however. 

He told Gazzeta dello Sport, via ?elPeriodico: “If I were the coach of Germany, I would definitely start ter Stegen. He is at the peak of his career. For now, he is the best in the world.”

Germany v Saudi Arabia - International Friendly

“I can understand his mood. I understand ter Stegen’s disappointment. We talked in a training session: we had a normal dialogue. He has a good season with Barcelona and we all want to play. But that is the situation. He is still very valuable to the team in his daily work.” 

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World Cup Countdown: 1 Day to Go – Germany’s Mild-Mannered Goal Machine, Miroslav Klose

In 2001, German football was at its lowest ebb in decades. Disappointment at the 1998 World Cup and disaster at Euro 2000 had triggered a top-to-bottom overhaul of the country’s footballing identity, which wouldn’t start bearing fruit until 2006.

Miroslav Klose was exactly the sort of player the system had been failing. A Polish immigrant living in a small town, he wasn’t spotted by a Bundesliga team until he was 20 years old. As the restructuring commenced, its mastermind Jörg Daniel promised that the best players would be discovered even if they were “born in a tiny village behind the mountains”. He could almost have been talking about Klose.


If he had broken through five years earlier or five years later, Klose might never have become a Die Mannschaft legend. A dearth of attacking talent meant that a decent – but not brilliant – season for Kaiserslautern was enough to get Klose his first international call-up in 2001. He scored 15 minutes into his debut against Albania, and the rest is legend.

Or rather, it should be. But the tale of Miroslav Klose has been told in statistics, not in the loving tributes reserved for some of his more stylish contemporaries. The adjectives often used to describe him are clinical, lethal, precise. The language of a sniper, not an entertainer.

Yet nobody has defined the World Cup in the 21st century quite like Klose, who has more goals at the tournament than any of his eulogised peers. His trademark somersault celebration has become a regular sight ever since he scored a hat-trick of headers on his World Cup debut against Saudi Arabia in 2002.

Germany v Ghana: Group G - 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

Acclaim has been surprisingly hard to come by. Klose has often been labelled a flat-track bully, with most of his World Cup goals coming against weaker opposition. His record at club level has also been criticised. He scored more than 20 league goals in a season just once, otherwise maintaining a steady average of about one goal every three games. Not bad, but not world class.

Klose was World Cup top scorer on home soil in 2006, but Germany’s tournament was remembered not for him but for the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm, the first fruits of the revolution. Klose joined the pair at ?Bayern Munich in 2007 but never prospered there, scoring just 24 league goals in four seasons.

He was included in the 2010 World Cup squad on reputation alone, but scored more goals at the tournament than he’d managed all season in the ?Bundesliga. He finally had a rival in the form of Thomas Müller, who outscored him in South Africa. Müller’s success in a modern 4-2-3-1 formation was the herald of a new generation.

Germany v Turkey - EURO 2012 Qualifier

Klose didn’t belong to that generation. As Germany moved towards a more fluid Spanish model, often employing a false nine and starting matches with no established striker, he started to seem like the relic of a bygone era.

But no matter how much Germany’s philosophy changed, there was still no-one who could put the ball in the net like Klose. He was a classic centre forward more comparable to Gerd Müller than to any current German player, though Klose himself has always balked at such comparisons.

“It’s an absolute joke to compare myself with him,” he said after joining Müller on 68 Germany goals in 2013. He broke the record on the eve of his final World Cup, but there was significant scepticism about the inclusion of a 36-year-old in Germany’s youthful squad – had Joachim Löw picked him on sentiment alone?

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Klose provided the answer in the only way he knew how, equalling Ronaldo’s World Cup goals record less than 120 seconds after coming on against Ghana. He failed to stick the landing on the somersault celebration, but his predatory instincts in front of goal had not been dulled by age.

Ronaldo’s record was one of many to fall in Belo Horizonte on 8 July 2014. Klose made history with the second of Germany’s seven goals against Brazil, but all the headlines the next day were about the enormity of the hosts’ collapse. Hardly a word for the World Cup’s greatest goalscorer.

Again, Klose quickly rubbished comparisons to Ronaldo, despite congratulations from the man himself. “For me, he was the most complete player ever,” said Klose, always magnanimous. At full-time against Brazil, he was one of the first to commiserate with Luiz Felipe Scolari, the disgraced opposition manager.

Klose has always been a model of dignity and fair play. In 2005 he refused a penalty wrongly awarded to Werder Bremen, requesting that the referee overturn his decision. He received an award for his honesty, but it was tinged with irritation that this behaviour was the exception. “For me, it was something you should always do. I would do it again,” he said.

Seven years later, the cynicism of modern football had not corrupted his moral compass. He admitted to handball in the build-up to a Lazio goal and the referee shook his hand before chalking it off. “There are many youngsters who watch football on TV and we are role models for them,” said Klose, again reluctant to be praised for simply telling the truth.

It is said that cheats never prosper, but in football they often do. Klose’s fair play was rewarded at last in his final game for Germany. Mario Götze’s winning goal against Argentina signalled that this was a group of players to whom Klose could safely pass the torch. He lifted the World Cup, and retired from international football a month later.

Germany v Argentina: 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Final

He briefly considered moving to the MLS after his last Lazio game in 2016, but his young family convinced him to call it a day. The 2018 World Cup will be the first since 1998 in which Klose will neither play nor score, but he will be in Russia as part of Joachim Löw’s coaching team. It wouldn’t be the World Cup without Miroslav Klose.

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