No new players, no old ones: This is Bayern's skeleton crew for the Club World Cup

Summer breaks aren't what they used to be. No sooner had the championship champagne been consumed (sorry: the championship beer, of course!) than FC Bayern got back into action. On June 5, coach Vincent Kompany ordered a skeleton squad back to the training ground, and on June 10, they'll be boarding a plane: Orlando calling, the Club World Cup in the United States.

The big question is: Who should actually play? Or rather, who can? And who is allowed to?

Thomas Müller should, can, and may; his contract has been extended at short notice, for the last, truly last time. Müller will play at least three more matches in the FCB jersey: in the preliminary round against Auckland City (Sunday, June 15, 6:00 p.m. CET), Boca Juniors (Saturday, June 21, 3:00 a.m. CET), and Benfica Lisbon (Tuesday, June 24, 9:00 p.m. CET).

Jamal Musiala will take part in the tournament, which has been extended to four weeks, after his muscle tear, and the same applies to Dayot Upamecano (loose joint in his knee) – both under the premise that everything goes as planned.

But, heretically speaking, that's all the really good news. The rest: Oh, it's complicated. After all the excitement of the past few months (Müller! Florian Wirtz! Max Eberl!), the Munich transfer committee is once again stuck on serious issues such as transfer fees, financing, and other matters.

The special transfer window created for the Club World Cup is open until June 10, and solutions are needed by then. For example, with Tom Bischof , who joins FC Bayern from Hoffenheim, but is tied to TSG until June 30. This would make him eligible to play only in the quarterfinals of the Club World Cup, which is why Bayern are trying to get Bischof off their hands beforehand. An agreement is pending.

The same situation applies to Jonathan Tah , who signed with Munich until 2029 and, as of now, is officially a Bayern player as of July 1. Here, too, Tah's current employer, Bayer Leverkusen, is resisting an earlier release and is demanding a sum of millions, which FC Bayern (so far) is unwilling to pay. There's talk of up to five million euros, and the Munich bosses are clearly very upset.

Leverkusen is aware of Bayern's acute personnel shortages in defense, where Alphonso Davies (torn cruciate ligament) and Hiroki Ito (metatarsal fracture) are certainly missing, Upamecano cannot be a reliable factor and Min-jae Kim (Achilles tendon, cyst on the foot) is also in danger of missing in the States.

What's also unclear is how to deal with Eric Dier , who is moving to AS Monaco after this season. Monaco, in turn, isn't particularly enthusiastic about the idea of ​​Dier traveling to America with Bayern just for the Club World Cup group stage—especially since he broke his hand in the last Bundesliga match. Tah, Kim, Dier: Somehow, everything is connected.

The situation is similar with the candidates for departure. With Leroy Sané , the poker game has dragged on for weeks. It's about the amount of the offer, or more precisely, the composition of fixed salary and variable components. Sané would like to stay, and Kompany would like to keep him, but nothing is happening. Because Bayern won't add anything, and Sané's side is resisting. London clubs (Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham) and Galatasaray are interested, and time is running out.

Kingsley Coman has been with FC Bayern for ten years, and an eleventh is unlikely; Saudi Arabia is particularly tempting. Furthermore, the expensive flops Sacha Boey and Joao Palhinha are likely to leave if appropriate offers are made. The situation is more clear for backup goalkeeper Daniel Peretz , who is set to be loaned to Eindhoven, possibly with an option to buy.

The crushing transfer squabble surrounding Leverkusen's Wirtz, whom Bayern had firmly anchored in their bold daydreams of the football of the future, still resonates. The pillars of the club's management, Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, had courted the director too aggressively, at times smugly.

Conversely, without Wirtz, FC Bayern will save a huge amount of money in terms of transfer fees, salary, performance bonuses, and fees, with the total likely approaching €250 million. Free funds for new stars? The answer is clear: yes and no.

Much depends on the Sané transfer. In the event that Bayern becomes or must become active in the market, the name of Portugal's Rafael Leao (25, AC Milan) is increasingly being talked about in the legendary backrooms of Säbener Straße.

However, Milan are said to be asking for over €100 million – too much from Bayern's perspective. Two Japanese players are also being discussed: Kaoru Mitoma (28, Brighton & Hove Albion) and Takefusa Kubo (24, Real Sociedad), as well as the Dutchman Cody Gakpo (26, Liverpool FC), and, a bit of a classic, the Spaniard Nico Williams (22, Athletic Bilbao).

In view of the many confusions, this certainty may be almost comforting: It is overwhelmingly likely that none of them will be on Bayern's plane to America on June 10th.