Bayern Munich pressed against the wall. There is no fallback option

Manuel Neuer broke his leg skiing while on vacation after the World Cup in Qatar. The goalkeeper of the German national team and Bayern Munich was therefore out until the end of the season. In Bavaria, they are frantically looking for an immediate replenishment. On paper, there are at least some interesting and good options. In practice, each of them can be hard to come by for various reasons.

Bayern in serious trouble

There were only two goalkeepers in Bayern’s squad this season – Neuer and Sven Ulreich. Most likely, Ulreich will be the main goalkeeper of the Bavarians for the rest of the season, but the club’s authorities need an alternative, a substitute.

Plan “A” for the Munich players was to bring Alexander Nuebel off loan. Here, however, the club encountered a number of obstacles.

Nuebel is on loan to the Ligue 1 club until the end of this season. Due to the injury of Neuer, Bayern want to shorten the loan period, which definitely does not please the authorities of AS Monaco. After all, Nuebel is the team’s main goalkeeper, having played in 23 games this season. According to Manuel Bonke from the editorial office of “Tageszeitung”, Monaco want 2 million euros in damages for shortening the loan. Bayern do not see themselves spending any money in this case.

In addition, the goalkeeper himself will not be willing to return to Bayern if he has to work with Toni Tapalovic, the goalkeeping coach. The two men absolutely hate each other. Nuebel complains that Tapalovic is not following his development at Monaco. In turn, the coach and his entourage, including Neuer’s agent, explain that they praised and recommended Nuebel from the beginning and do not understand why the goalkeeper does not explain everything himself, but does it through the media. For the young goalkeeper, however, the cooperation with him and Neuer is off. He sees himself as a loser. The more so that Tapalović and Neuer are friends and Bayern have no intention of sacking the goalkeeping coach.

There are contingency plans

Fortunately, the Bavarians have several other options, and they are also qualitative. According to Bonke, Bayern could sign Yassine Bounou, from Sevilla, better known as Bono. The main goalkeeper of the Andalusians and the Moroccan national team would have no problem if he started in Munich as a second goalkeeper. He is also Oliver Kahn’s favourite. However, the transfer amount may be problematic. Sevilla is to demand as much as 20 million euros.

The German media also informed about the possibility of signing Dominik Livakovic from Dinamo Zagreb. The Croatians are to be open to selling the goalkeeper in January. Germany talks about 10 million euros for the goalkeeper. However, after such a sensational performance at the World Cup in Qatar, where Livaković was instrumental in Croatia’s bronze medal, Dinamo may demand much more from him.

Bild’s Christian Falk hints at a chance to buy PSG’s Keylor Navas. The Costa Rican is said to be unhappy with his position in Paris and may want to leave. However, the authorities of the French champion do not have to let him go to Munich. Bayern is the rival of the Parisians in the 1/8 Champions League.

Bayern can also think about options for free. Loris Karius has not played a minute this season and has a contract with Newcastle United until the end of the year. Alternatively, the German champions can sign Christian Fruchtl from loan. He plays regularly in Austria Wien and Bayern have indicated in the contract that they can bring him in at any time.

Hasan Salihamidzic wants to have things clear by January 3, when training camp for the second part of the season begins. After the weekend, Bayern are to take more concrete measures.