Another year at Bayern Munich for a proven goalkeeping duo?

The unquestioned number one goalkeeper and Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer (37 years old) and the current number two Sven Ulreich (35 years old) form one of the longest serving goalkeeping duos in European football.

With the exception of the 2020/2021 season, for which Ulreich signed with Hamburg and after which he returned to Bayern at Neuer’s request, they have been working together since 2015. And now, according to Kicker magazine, the Bavarian big club is trying to extend the contracts of both goalkeepers.

Considering their age and Bayern’s previous practice of extending the contracts of players who are both over 30 years old, it is expected that they will be offered a 1-year contract extension.

Had Bayern not (successfully) pursued Harry Kane in the summer, the goalkeeper position would probably have been the most discussed topic of the summer transfer window for the Bavarian big club. After Neuer broke his leg skiing during the winter break, Bayern brought in Yann Sommer from Borussia Mönchengladbach as a replacement.

However, it was supposed to be a short-term solution until captain Neuer recovered from his injury, as Sommer had a gentleman’s agreement with Bayern management whereby he would be allowed to leave if his number one position was not secure. And as Neuer’s return seemed imminent, the Swiss goalkeeper moved to Inter Milan after half a season.

Even before Sommer’s departure, there was regular speculation as to whether Neuer would ever be fit to play goal again. However, in the aftermath of Sommer’s departure, due to complications during his convalescence and despite initially optimistic forecasts, he only trained individually, and so logically many names were discussed to expand Munich’s goalkeeping ranks.

Apart from Kepa Arrizabalaga, who was probably the closest to a move to Munich as a guest, but preferred Real Madrid at the last minute, there was talk of Roberto Sánchez, David Raya and David de Gea, among others.

However, Bayern finally decided to go a different route – instead of the proven goalkeepers from the Premier League, they engaged young Daniel Peretz (23 years old) from Maccabi Tel Aviv.

At the moment, Neuer has been training as a goalkeeper for some time and is also partly involved in training with the whole team, but he is not yet fully involved in the training process and it is not certain whether he will be fully back between the three sticks before the winter break. For the time being, Peretz will cover Ulreich’s back, who has been trusted to be the temporary number one.

However, the question is how Bayern will behave when Neuer makes his full return. The club’s management sees great potential in the young Peretz and his development will certainly not benefit from simply competing for the number two position with Ulreich. Even if the number two position is secure, a goalkeeper at his age needs to be catching regularly. A guest appearance would be the solution, but Bayern are rather reticent in this respect.

At the same time, there is a guest in Stuttgart, Alexander Nübel, who also originally came to Munich with great potential and should be a reminder to the Bavarian big club’s management that it is not enough for a young and ambitious goalkeeper to just listen to the advice of a playing legend and have his back.

Source: Kicker, Getfootballnewsgermany