Manuel Neuer still has not officially made a decision on his future after there has already been two, separate delays to when the keeper and club initially stated a decision would be made by. The veteran keeper really wants to take his time to ensure he makes the right decision for not only himself, but also for the club as he’s now 40 years of age and has a lot of things to consider.
Regardless of his age, Neuer showed in the two legs of the Champions League quarterfinals against Real Madrid that
he is still more than capable of making key, world class saves for Bayern and he also made a handful of strong saves in the Bundesliga matches vs. SC Freiburg and St. Pauli either side of each leg vs. Real Madrid. There’s no questioning his ability, but his health, fitness, and injury track record are key factors that he has to think about before making a final decision. One thing is also for certain, he has repeatedly said no when asked about whether or not he’d make a return to the German national team for this summer’s World Cup so long as Julian Nagelsmann would be okay with, and request it.
Former Bayern president Uli Hoeneß recently weighed in on the matter of Neuer’s future and said he would like to see the keeper stay with the German Rekordmeister for another year, especially with how beneficial itcould be for Jonas Urbig.
“Well, personally, if it were up to me, we would try to keep him [Neuer] for another year. We would ask him to be a mentor for Urbig. That includes being willing to sit out some games. We think very highly of Urbig. We truly believe he can be the successor. He can only achieve that if he plays. Both get along very, very well. So we hope that Manuel will stay for another year and prepare for the future in this position,” Hoeneß stressed (via @iMiaSanMia).
For what it’s worth, Bayern has already seen the type of setup Hoeneß has described with Neuer sort of mentoring Urbig with the stints both this season and last season Urbig has had to cover for Neuer when the latter has been out injured. When Bayern bought Urbig from FC Köln, there was always an internal expectation that, under Neuer’s guidance and mentorship, Urbig could eventually become the number one keeper at the club, especially if it becomes increasingly clear that Alexander Nübel doesn’t have a future with Bayern after his VfB Stuttgart loan spell is up. He has said numerous times that his decision to stay and fight for time at Bayern hinges on whether Neuer stays for another season or not.
