Bayern Munich CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen has been speaking about the situation with Kieran Trippier after Newcastle United rejected their opening bid.
Bayern had been keen to take the defender on loan for the rest of the season but Newcastle are only willing to entertain offers for a reasonable fee.
Speaking after Bayern’s defeat to Werder Bremen, Dreesen claimed that the German giants won’t be making any ‘stupid’ offers for Trippier despite desperately needing a right-back.
Bayern won’t be forced into signing Trippier
Newcastle obviously would love to keep Trippier, Eddie Howe especially, because of his leadership and quality which has been so key to the way the team have played in the last two years.
However, there is also an understanding that should a big offer come in for the 33-year-old, anything above £20m or so, then it’s the best deal you’re ever going to get for an aging right-back with 18 months on their contract.
Newcastle’s current stance is that he is not for sale and they won’t be entertaining offers, but everybody knows the financial situation they find themselves in and selling Trippier is a much better way of raising funds than selling Bruno Guimaraes or Alexander Isak.
It’s not clear yet what kind of money Bayern are willing to commit to the England international, but they are very keen to bring in a new right-back with midfielder Konrad Laimer filling in there at the weekend.
After the game, Dreesen said: “You know that we are looking for one or the other player. But we won’t do anything stupid, anything unreasonable. If we manage to find one, we’ll get him. And if not, then not.”
Newcastle want Trippier to stay
It can’t be underestimated how good of a job Trippier has done since arriving from Atletico Madrid exactly two years ago, transforming the club from relegation candidates to a Champions League team.
Although he’s had a rocky month or so lately and the performances haven’t been his best, it’s still his leadership and experience that is so invaluable especially for a team who are only starting to compete with the best.
It may be that Newcastle miss out on a decent fee for the former La Liga winner, but Howe is thinking about right now and how much Trippier would be missed for the second half of the season.
Whether or not Newcastle would be more willing to consider the offer in the summer when there’s more time to adapt remains to be seen, though Bayern will likely have solved their defensive issue by then.
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