Manuel Neuer is still showing that he is fully capable of playing at his peak despite already being 39 years old. By the time the 2025/26 season is over, he’ll be 40, but the club does not have plans of pushing
him out the door any time soon – even Uli Hoeneß has said on numerous occasions that it’s his dream for Neuer to eventually retire at Bayern.
As things stand, Neuer’s contract is set to expire in the summer, as has been the case for the past couple of seasons since Bayern routinely only offers one-year contract extensions for players over the age of 30 — with a handful of exceptions. Last winter’s acquisition of keeper Jonas Urbig from FC Köln was an anticipatory move made by the German Rekordmeister to try to line up an eventual long-term replacement for Neuer. Sven Ulreich’s future is uncertain after missing most of last season for personal reasons, Daniel Peretz’s loan spell at Hamburg SV has not gone according to plan at all, and Alexander Nübel also doesn’t know if he’ll ever have a future at Bayern; that really only leaves Urbig, who has stood firm when he’s been asked to by Vincent Kompany.
As far as Neuer is concerned, per information from Bild (via @iMiaSanMia), the current understanding and assumption is that the 39-year-old will wind up extending his contract for another year, though all parties will be waiting to make a final decision in the spring. Presumably, Neuer’s performances, fitness, and injury history (or lack thereof) will come into play in the final decision come the spring time.
Nonetheless, internally at the club, it is a shared belief that Urbig can eventually become the long-term replacement for Neuer and be the future number one keeper once latter hangs up his gloves, at least at Bayern. For now, Neuer is still the number one keeper and he is fully expected to start the final two Bundesliga matches for 2025 against Mainz and then Heidenheim. Still, the club has made it clear they do also plan on giving Urbig some matches after the winter break during the Rückrunde; it’s just going to come down to finding the right occasions to do so. With the cushion Bayern has in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League group phase, it’s likely that opportunities will certainly present themselves, though Kompany chose to stick with Neuer in the DFB-Pokal win over Union Berlin after Urbig was in goal for the first round win over Wehen Wiesbaden and second round win over Köln.
