Manuel Neuer has maintained his seat as the Bayern Munich and German national team goalkeeper for longer than some goalkeepers’ entire careers. While Neuer has retired from putting on the national team jersey, his talent between the posts have haunted Marc-Andre ter Stegen who might never get his chance. A certain dialogue is now starting to emerge with Bayern.
Alexander Nübel was brought into Munich to become Neuer’s successor and despite putting in a career strong enough so far to earn some starts
for the national team, it is clear that he will never replace Neuer. However, there is another apprentice. Signed a year ago from FC Köln, Jonas Urbig could be the true successor to Neuer’s throne.
Urbig immediately saw significant playtime but after Neuer returned from an injury, Urbig has never seen a chance to reclaim the spot he temporarily held. While there were reports of a 50/50 split between Neuer and Urbig for the 2025/26 season, that has simply not been the case. Even the more conservative estimates of Urbig getting 10 Bundesliga starts will not happen, barring any injuries to Neuer. Is it entirely justified?
“We brought in Jonas a year ago, in agreement with Manu. We are extremely happy to have these three goalkeepers. Jonas benefits incredibly from the two older ones. We placed our trust in him and he has repaid it 100 percent. We have great confidence in Jonas; we believe he is capable of great things. We are confident that he can become the number one at FC Bayern someday,” said Bayern Munich board member for sport Max Eberl as captured via @iMiaSanMia.
Max Eberl’s comments reflect there is confidence in the young goalkeeper, but not enough for them to confirm he will be the number one. Perhaps it is too early to confirm that spot, but there is starting to become a serious conversation that Bayern has relied on aging players for too long. The perfect example was Kingsley Coman, who was adored by fans and the club, but never once scored 10 goals in a Bundesliga season. While comparing Coman’s mediocracy to Neuer’s legendary run for Bayern Munich is an unfair once, there is a time in which Neuer should pass the torch to Urbig.
As we saw with Coman, that torch was passed to Luis Díaz who is not even on the same planet as Coman when it comes to scoring goals. Díaz is a game changer, plain and simple. While Neuer is in the middle of another great season for the Bavarian giants, could it be a mistake not to give Urbig the starting role next season?
