Bayern Munich deliver “Das Ribery-Ultimatum”

The folks at Bild, Europe’s best-selling newspaper, are today claiming that Bayern Munich have delivered “Das Ribery Ultimatum” to Real Madrid.

Apparently, if the Spaniards are to secure the services of Franck Ribery, they must do so in the next nine days, before the Bundesliga side head off to Donaueschingen for their pre-season training camp.

Los Blancos will have to pay a ridiculously inflated €80m for the French midfielder, a price on which Die Roten’s general manager Uli Hoeness is “not willing to deviate from by a millimetre”.

Bild imply that the transfer saga is affecting Ribery’s pre-season regime, criticising his posture as being “lacklustre” over the past few days of training. Equally, captain Mark van Bommel is calling for a resolution to the situation as quickly as possible, labelling the whole debacle as “theatre”.

The Spoiler’s verdict: Madrid would be absolutely daft to fork out that kind of money for a player whose personal honours don’t extend far beyond a German domestic league title, but we wouldn’t rule it out. Signing the best player from each of the major leagues (Ronaldo from England, Kaka from Italy, Ribery from Germany) is exactly the kind of statement of intent Florentino Perez is looking to make.