‘On the list’ – £29m defender ‘very interesting’ option for Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich signed only two players this summer, but they could be more active in the upcoming transfer windows.

Adding a new left-winger is a priority for Vincent Kompany, while Bayern could be forced to do more business if Michael Olise show unwillingness to extend his contract.

Likewise, the Bavarian giants could need a new centre-back, if either of Kim Min-jae, Jonathan Tah or Hiroki Ito is solid.

Dayot Upamecano is the first-choice centre-back for Bayern, but Jonathan Tah is struggling with regular games this season.

Kim Min-jae, in contrast, has made 10 appearances across all competitions, while Hiroki Ito has struggled has regular games.

Christian Falk has exclusively told CFBayern Insider that Bayern are looking to sign a new centre-back in the next summer window.

The Bild journalist says that Bayern are heavily interested in Benfica defender Tomas Araujo.

The 24-year-old could be available for around £29.1m-33.3m, and could be an interesting option for Bayern.

Falk said: “It is TRUE: Bayern are looking to sign a centre-back in the next summer transfer window. This will be very interesting for us all to follow, as there are so many concrete names at the moment. I have one I want to talk about, because he’s been on the list now for several seasons, and this is Tomás Araújo of Benfica.

“He’s not so expensive and he’s 24 years old. He would be very interesting for Bayern and you could get him for about €35m-40m [£29.1m-33.3m]. At the moment, of course, you don’t what’s happening with Min-jae Kim who’s playing really well ahead of Jonathan Tah for many games. Tah’s going through a bit of a mini-crisis at the minute, so you have to see. Can you sell one of the players? Araújo would be a name, but there are many rumours around, which indicates that Bayern are searching intensively.

“TEAMtalk was talking about Lucas Herrington from Manchester City. I’m not sure why, I’m not sure if that’s true. Transfer insider Ekrem Konur talked about Tarik Muharemović (23) at Leeds United. I’d be a little sceptical about this rumour, but Bayern do have their scouts around, and there’s no smoke without fire! In the end, Bayern Munich have to see if they can sell, for example, Hiroki Ito, they have to see Min-jae Kim will stay, and then they can go through their list of centre-backs.”

The Portuguese centre-back has progressed through the youth ranks at Benfica, and made 105 appearances for the senior side, scoring three goals.

Araujo is available at a decent price, as pointed out by Falk, and certainly within Bayern’s affordable range.

In all probability, Ito could be sold next summer, and there would be room for a new addition.