© Stanley Gontha
Daley Blind is not on his way to Antwerp, but to Bayern Munich. The 32-year-old defender was spotted early on Thursday at Schiphol and left for southern Germany. Well-informed sources in Munich have now confirmed that Blind will leave for FC Bayern with immediate effect. There he will sign a contract until the end of the season with an option for another year.
Marcel van der KraanBron: The Telegraph
The medical examination is of course another important step before he can actually sign a contract with the ‘Rekordmeister’ of the Bundesliga. But if it is up to the German top club, the Dutch defender will already travel in the plane on Friday for an extensive training camp in the sun towards the restart of the German league (January 20).
Blind is on the radar at Bayern thanks to the contacts between his agent Kees Vos, who surprisingly brought Cody Gakpo to Liverpool with his company recently, and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic who was investigating with his technical director Marco Neppe.
Panic in Munich
In Munich, panic broke out in the middle of the last World Cup when their left back Lucas Hernandez tore off the cruciate ligament of his right knee as a French international against Australia. Hernandez is out until at least September and Bayern quickly made it clear that it cannot spend millions in the winter break. To make matters worse, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer also broke his leg while skiing afterwards.
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Vos alerted the Germans to the possibility of taking over Blind, who had been sidelined by trainer Alfred Schreuder in Amsterdam, from Ajax. After Christmas, the matter gained momentum and a breakthrough was made in the negotiations in the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
Not to Antwerp
It is a dream solution for both Blind and Bayern Munich. The player is now aware that after Ajax and Manchester United he will be under contract with an absolute top club for the third time in his career. The deal with Bayern will be an extra crown on his career.
And so the Orange international does not come to play football in Belgium. Antwerp also wanted to bring in the left-footed defender – technical director Marc Overmars still knows Blind from Ajax and tried to convince him – but the competition turned out to be too great. First there was talk of the Spanish Real Sociedad, but if the German record champion comes, the Great Old will of course have no chance.
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