Those reports coincided with Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg reporting that Bayer Leverkusen was now willing to negotiate with Bayern for a potential transfer of center-back Jonathan Tah. Tah would supposedly replace De Ligt in Bayern's squad planning.

At first glance, that would be an odd move. Whereas Tah is 28, De Ligt is only 24. Furthermore, despite struggling with some injuries over the last two years, the Dutch defender has been perhaps Bayern's most consistent defender.

It seems odd that Bayern would move on from De Ligt rather than Dayot Upamecano or Min-jae Kim. Both Upamecano and Kim, after all, showed inconsistencies last season.

That, however, is part of the problem. Both Upamecano and Kim are distressed assets. Upamecano, in particular, would be challenging to sell at this stage of his career. Kim has a bit of a market in Italy, but Bayern would be hard-pressed to receive the EUR50 million ($55 million) the club paid to Napoli last season for the Korean center-back.

Finally, there is Eric Dier. Dier has been a consistent center-back for the club last season and almost helped Bayern reach the Champions League final. Plus, the Englishman is close to Bayern star striker Harry Kane.

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That leaves Bayern with a conundrum. The club will have to clear the books in order to bring in new players like Tah. According to Capology, De Ligt earned EUR16 million ($17.1 million) at Bayern Munich last season.

Erik ten Hag, De Ligt's former Ajax head coach, is now in charge of Manchester United. Under Ten Hag, De Ligt became one of the hottest center-back prospects in European football. In fact, to this day, De Ligt has played the most games under the Man United manager.

Bayern's director of sport, Max Eberl, will also be aware of all those facts and see an opportunity here to shed salary and earn some money to restructure the squad. The downside of the deal is that Bayern might lose the most upside currently in the squad.

Making that kind of decision, however, will be part of Bayern's short-term future as Eberl and sporting director Christoph Freund try to rebalance the squad and also bring down salary. As De Ligt leaves, his replacement, Tah, will come at a supposedly lower transfer fee and smaller salary. According to Capology, the German national team player currently earns EUR2.8 million ($3 million).

There is no doubt that if De Ligt leaves, that decision will be unpopular among the fan base. But De Ligt won't be the last player that the Bayern bosses will have to make a tough decision on.

Whether it is Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry, Joshua Kimmich, or Alphonso Davies, Bayern won't be able to keep everyone on the current contract structure while also adding new pieces. This is the equivalent of open hard surgery on the fly, and it will hurt in the short term but, if completed successfully, might lead to long-term squad stability and silverware.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth and on Threads: @manuveth