Yann Sommer has signed a contract with Bayern Munich until the end of June 2025. Image: dpa / Hendrik Schmidt
In no other position in football is the ranking among the players as firmly established as in the goal. Almost every club plays with a fixed number one. The number two is often only used in the cup or as a backup in the event of an injury.
After the signing of Yann Sommer, there is an unusual situation at FC Bayern that in the future two goalkeepers will announce regular place ambitions. Because after the current season, Manuel Neuer, the long-standing goalkeeper, will come back, who currently has to take a break due to a broken leg.
It remains to be seen who will come out on top. TV expert Didi Hamann has already formulated a steep thesis in this regard.
Hamann sees summer before new
“Neuer has to work his way back into the jersey,” said Hamann on the show “Sky90”. With Sommer, Bayern have brought in an outstanding goalkeeper “who is now number one,” Hamann clarified. When Neuer is fit again, he will have to accept the fight with Sommer for the goalkeeper position. But he will be the number one in preparation for the coming season – “if he holds up well in the second half of the season”.
Moderator Patrick Wasserziehr then asked in astonishment: “Neuer seriously as a challenger?” Hamann’s answer: “Absolutely. He caused an accident himself, which costs the club a lot of money.”
Manuel Neuer broke his lower leg while ski touring around six weeks ago and will therefore be out until the end of the season. The Munich team then signed Gladbach’s Yann Sommer as a replacement for eight million euros. Both Bayern sports director Hasan Salihamidžić and CEO Oliver Kahn then emphasized that Neuer would remain number one.
But Hamann is not the only TV expert predicting a possible changing of the guard in the Bayern goal. One should “not automatically assume that Sommer will leave Bayern again after the season, but maybe be number one in the long term,” wrote Stefan Effenberg sports1. “Julian Nagelsmann has said that Neuer will be number one when he comes back. But it’s not Neuer’s first long-term injury and at his age it’s extremely difficult to come back completely.”
Hamann does not rule out the end of Neuer’s career
Hamann also said about Neuer: “He’s now 37 in March. If you have to do three or four months of rehabilitation, it’s not that easy.” “We don’t know yet whether the German national goalkeeper will come back after his serious injury,” said Hamann.
According to Hamann, what happens to Bayern’s loaned goalkeeper Alexander Nübel will also depend on Neuer’s return in the summer. “At the moment I don’t see any need or constellation for Nübel to come back,” said ex-national player Hamann. “I could imagine that they will part ways in the summer.” Nübel is on loan to AS Monaco until the end of the season.
(with material from dpa)
In no other position in football is the ranking among the players as firmly established as in the goal. Almost every club plays with a fixed number one. The number two is often only used in the cup or as a backup in the event of an injury.
