When Manuel Neuer finally has to hang up his boots and gloves for good as a Bayern Munich player, there will be a massive void to fill.
He is a player whose name is synonymous with FC Bayern and the Mia San Mia mentality, but there will come a time when someone else has to be the main man between the sticks for the club.
Neuer is currently 38 years old and recently got a one-year contract extension at Bayern, but there has actively been planning in place to prepare for the time when he will no longer be the de facto number one keeper.
Former club president and goalkeeping legend Oliver Kahn has stressed his opinion that he feels Neuer can play at the highest level into his 40s, but that sentiment has not prevented Bayern from planning for the future.
Per information from Bild’s Christian Falk and Heiko Niederrer (via @iMiaSanMia), Bayern is still very much keeping tabs on the goalkeeping market to stay open to ample opportunities that might prevent themselves.
One player that currently has their attention is Toulouse’s Guillaume Restes, who is 19-years-old, but a promising young talent.
Prepping for Neuer’s eventual decline from the starting spot has been in the works for a few seasons by now, and it was evident when Bayern came close to signing Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia, who wound up signing for Liverpool as of this summer.
The signing of Jonas Urbig from FC Köln on a deal that keeps him at Bayern through June 2029 was also a move very much made to prep for the poet-Neuer era and the Bayern captain has already confirmed there is a plan in place to have a sort of “job sharing” setup with Urbig next season to help the youngster integrate into the team. Urbig has already been impressing in training.
Bayern will also take into account what the future hold for both Sven Ulreich and Daniel Peretz, as it’s likely both backup keepers will wind up moving on from Bayern by this summer or next winter.
Peretz had the chance to go out on loan in January, but he decided to stay at Bayern, train with Neuer, Ulreich, and Urbig and be a part of the squad that is still in the hunt for two pieces of silverware.
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