Manuel Neuer shocks FC Bayern Munich with a skiing accident, the goalkeeper will be out for months. How the record champions still want to achieve their goals is a big question. Now you have apparently found a first answer for yourself. And now it gets really complicated.
In his own words, Manuel Neuer wanted to "clear his head" after the World Cup disaster in Qatar, and this created a huge problem for FC Bayern: because the national goalkeeper fell on a ski tour with serious consequences and will be out for months and probably until the end of the season with a broken leg. Does the ambitious club, which is still involved in three competitions, have to come up with something: Do you want to tackle the huge tasks with an internal solution? Or do you decide to go the complicated route of negotiating a top goalkeeper out of his contract somewhere during the winter break? It is becoming increasingly clear: the number two Sven Ulreich does not want to be held responsible for the high goals.
The solution favored by FC Bayern should be an early return of Alexander Nübel: According to information from "Kicker", those responsible for the record champions had not contacted any other goalkeeper until Sunday. However, there are two difficulties with the strategy: Neither AS Monaco, which Nübel would contractually only have to give up again in the summer, nor the goalkeeper himself are euphoric about getting the transfer off the ground. "Yes, Bayern want to bring Alexander back and have informed me about it. It is now primarily up to the clubs to find an agreement. It is important for Alexander to know what his perspective is," quoted the TV channel Sky Nübel's adviser Stefan Backs.
The problem for FC Bayern is here too: Manuel Neuer. After his injury, he will return with the clear aim of taking his place in the record champions' goal again. Even before the accident, Neuer had left no doubt that he wanted to lead the national team at the home European Championship in 2024. Nübel had repeatedly very clearly ruled out wanting to return to Bayern as number two behind Manuel Neuer.
If the talks with Nübel and the Ligue 1 club don't pick up speed, a plan B should come into force - and it apparently envisages a transfer from Yann Sommer to FC Bayern's goal, as "Sky" reports. Sommer is said to be “the ideal candidate with no alternative”. The Swiss player's contract with Bundesliga competitor Borussia Mönchengladbach expires in the summer, and Manchester United's interest in the Swiss national goalkeeper was recently reported. Gladbach's sports director Roland Virkus told the "Bild" newspaper in this context that "from our point of view, a transfer from Yann in winter is not an issue at all".
If Sommer decides against extending the contract with the eighth Bundesliga team, Gladbach could only get a fee in winter. There, however, they were optimistic that the goalkeeper, who had moved from Basel to the Lower Rhine in 2014, could be kept in the long term: "I would like to emphasize that we are in good discussions with him. If he comes back after the World Cup vacation, we will continue to sit down together," Virkus said. The coming days will show whether a possible interest from FC Bayern would change anything.
Candidates traded in recent weeks such as Morocco's World Cup hero Bono, Keylor Navas, substitute keeper for Champions League opponent Paris Saint-Germain, or Croatia's Dominik Livakovic probably only play a subordinate role in FC Bayern's thoughts.
