Number one at Bavaria or sale?
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On the 13th matchday, FC Bayern will face VfB Stuttgart and goalkeeper Alexander Nübel will be reunited with his parent club from Munich. The 29-year-old is still on loan to the Swabians until the summer. Whether he has a future at VfB is questionable – just like that at Bayern.
A lot depends on Manuel Neuer. The number one wants to decide in the spring whether he will continue or end his career in the summer when his contract expires. If the first case occurs, according to “Bild”, Nübel will most likely not return to Munich and will be sold. But if Neuer hangs up his football boots, the Paderborn native could have a chance at a successor. Then a direct duel with Jonas Urbig should decide who is better. There are no plans to purchase another top goalkeeper in 2026.
Sports director Christoph Freund about Nübel and the keeper situation at the German record champions: “He is our goalkeeper, is playing a good season and has really developed in the last one or two years. Alex is certainly one of the best goalkeepers in Germany. We are very happy that we are very well positioned for the time after Manuel, when that comes at some point. Then the decisions will be made. But we are very happy that we have goalkeepers in our back pocket who are currently playing at a very high level.”
In a “Sky” interview, Neuer recently spoke out in favor of Urbig, who was signed by 1. FC Köln for 7 million euros at the beginning of 2025: “It’s a lot of fun working together in our goalkeeping group. It’s no problem for him that he can and will succeed me. He definitely has the support of Sven (Ulreich; editor’s note) and me. We are a good team. We support each other every day, we always try to push ourselves to the limit so that we can raise the bar a little higher. He has already shown in the games that he can do it, and he will continue to do so.” The 22-year-old has played 15 games for Bayern so far and kept a clean sheet five times.
Nübel has made four appearances since his free transfer from FC Schalke in 2020. He has spent a year in Munich so far, after which he has always been on loan. According to reports, his contract was automatically extended by one year until 2030 with the last Neuer extension. Should it result in a sale next summer, Bayern are hoping for up to 20 million transfer fees for Nübel, according to the Munich “Abendzeitung”, for example from a financially strong club in the Premier League.
Its market value is currently estimated at 12 million euros. If a transfer of this magnitude were to take place, it would be a record departure for FC Bayern. The league leader has never collected more than 6.9 million euros for a keeper.