Bayern Munich isn't making much progress in this transfer window. And Nico Williams's unexpected turnaround doesn't contradict these faltering beginnings. Courted primarily by Barça, with whom he had reached an agreement, the 22-year-old Spanish international was also in Bayern Munich's sights. He ultimately decided to stay at Athletic in exchange for an extension until 2035. His release clause was also revised upwards, going from €58 million to between €80 and €90 million. "It's over ," assures Uli Honess. The Bavarian club will never target Nico Williams again.

On the other hand, the German champions are indeed looking for a winger, but the rejections keep coming . In addition to the 2024 European champion, Bradley Barcola, Luis Diaz, and now Jamie Bynoe-Gittens have all declined his approaches. We can even extend these criteria to Florian Wirtz, who preferred to join Liverpool. Bayern, however, needs a player in this position to relieve Michael Olise and especially Kingsley Coman, who regularly suffers from physical problems, especially after the departure of Leroy Sané to Galatasaray.

" We need a replacement just in case, but paying €60, €70, €80 million for a replacement, I'm not sure ."

" There's nothing you can do when a player like that (Nico Williams, editor's note) extends his contract. We still have time, the transfer window is open until the end of August ," Uli Honess tried to reassure on German channel BR24 before the match against PSG. "We decided internally to only do reasonable things. We still have Gnabry and Coman. Coman in particular impressed me a lot against Boca. If he wasn't often injured, we probably wouldn't have thought about it (recruiting in this position). We need a replacement just in case, but paying €60, €70 or €80 million for a replacement, I'm not sure. "

The Rekordmeister president also claims that the Rafael Leao prospect was never considered. " It was never a topic of discussion for us. Max (Eberl, the sporting director) told me that he had discussions, but they didn't come to anything. " And then there's the Nick Woltemade case , which Bayern would like to close. " We still have time until the end of August. I consider him a very good player who would fit in perfectly with us, and I would be delighted if that happened this year. And if not, it will be next year, " concludes the club boss.