First and foremost, I’m wondering what mental games Yann Sommer is doing in this regard. As described in the article, it is almost guaranteed that he will have to cede the regular place, which he would certainly have for the second half of the season, to Manuel Neuer again for the new season. Understandably. Neuer is the better goalkeeper and the regular number one in FC Bayern Munich. Since it is of course assumed that he will recover from his injury, Sommer is only a temporary solution. Even in the event that Neuer cannot return in good health (which is not to be expected), I doubt that Munich will see Yann Sommer as a permanent solution for the coming years.
How long does Manuel Neuer still have? How long will he be “good enough” for Bayern Munich’s claims? Probably long enough to deprive a 34-year-old Yann Sommer of any prospects of a regular place. Ergo, what does summer want? We don’t have to talk about short-term opportunities. Probably not about the financial component either. The decisive factor is: Does Yann Sommer believe that the second half of the season at FC Bayern Munich as a regular goalkeeper (depending on the contract term) will give him enough chances, ideally for the new season, to work for another club, where he would then be the regular goalkeeper? And if so, is this club better than what he has at Gladbach now? Considering the age, I’m not so sure.
The best solution for Sommer would be a short-term contract. So short that it wouldn’t present a significant hurdle for another club to sign him in the summer. Then everyone would be happy. Gladbach has had a replacement for a long time, FC Bayern Munich is starting the season with a recovered Manuel Neuer and Sommer, who was a regular goalkeeper for the German record champions for six months, is continuing his career as number one elsewhere.
I don’t necessarily see that Sommer (if he goes to FCB) “almost guaranteed” to have to cede his regular place from the second half of the season to Manuel Neuer. It has not yet been said how Neuer’s injury will heal. Neuer doesn’t have that young healing meat anymore. More than half a year without a competitive game is not without either. That doesn’t mean he’ll immediately be back to where he was before the injury.
Even before the injury, Neuer’s level was not as outstanding as it was years before. It’s not so clear that Neuer is “the better goalkeeper” compared to Sommer. It’s just a press analysis, of course, but it’s symptomatic that Neuer is only 7th among the BL goalkeepers in the kicker “goalkeeper rankings”, between Flekken and Gikiewicz, the last to make it into the “national class ” has come. Neuer is far behind Sommer, who really deserves second place in the list.
Of course, Neuer still has a great charisma, which makes a difference. But in many areas it has visibly decreased. With Bayern’s strength, that’s not as obvious as it is with a weaker team. It’s no coincidence that Sommer was able to excel extremely against Bayern. It was just a lot on his goal, one hardly remembers Neuer’s performance in this game.
Of course, the fact that Neuer is “the regular number one at FC Bayern Munich” is important. It would be tricky to put a match-fit Manuel Neuer on the bench because Yann Sommer held up outstandingly in the second half of the BL season and in the CL and the team feels good with him. But a goalkeeper who has been playing well for months is not so easy to take out. Bayern also have to clearly show their team that the performance principle prevails.
I can well imagine that Bayern will take this failure as an opportunity to promote the upheaval in goal. Neuer is faltering, but benching the former world champion in normal intra-team competition is extremely difficult. He will have his advocates in the team and club, there would be a (international) press whirlwind – that could be ugly and restless. However, if Sommer is playing well, it could very easily be argued that despite Neuer’s return, they are not moving. The attack surface would be much smaller and the transition to the new long-term number one could be better moderated. Six months to one and a half years for the search for the new number one should be enough for FCB. The goalkeeper who is to come then can be promised a reasonably peaceful change of baton in the Bayern goal, since he will replace Sommer, who doesn’t have a long history with Bayern and has only signed a short contract anyway.