Bayern Munich confirm Pepe Reina transfer from Liverpool

Shortly after the news leaked that Bayern Munich had reached an agreement with Liverpool for Pepe Reina, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirmed to the media in Portland that the news was true. Bayern had found their third goalkeeper.

"Pepe Reina was eager to come to Bayern Munich," said Rummenigge. "He wanted to embark on this adventure even though he knows that, in Manuel Neuer, he has a keeper in front of him who, if nothing changes, will always remain the number one."

While the transfer fee varies depending on the source, TZ is reporting that Bayern will play €3 million for Reina, and he will sign new three year contract at the club. He was reportedly on astronomical wages on his Liverpool deal of around €140,000 a week. Hopefully, his wages are more appropriate for a backup goalkeeper with this three year deal.

Pep Guardiola had been speaking in the media for weeks now that he wanted to sign a third goalkeeper, and Rummenigge made it very clear today why that was the case. The club didn't want to end up in a situation like last season where they were having to rely on someone as inexperienced as Lukas Raeder. Once Manuel Neuer and Tom Starke went down with injuries, Bayern had nowhere to turn but to the FCBII goalkeeper. While there's no questioning that Raeder performed as well as could be expected in his minutes with the first team, the club would prefer to have a goalkeeper this season with a little more experience if worse came to worst.

Unfortunately, the reviews from Napoli supporters after their one season with Reina aren't very promising. These come despite the fact that the club finished in Serie A's third and final Champions League position.

Conor Dowley of SB Nation's Napoli blog The Siren's Song:

Reina started out the season in strong form, firing off an impressive run of matches that saw him make a number of impressive saves, including a memorable stop of a Mario Balotelli penalty. After October, though, his form steadily declined, with a number of the same positioning and decision making issues that plagued him for his last few years in Liverpool coming back to haunt him in a big way. He rushes out when it's not needed, he protects the wrong post, he lines up his wall wrong... as the season wore on his mistakes cost Napoli more and more points. Don't let his save percentage fool you: Reina is not the goalkeeper he used to be outside of his still strong distribution skills. Napoli passed on bringing him back because his very high wages weren't worth the problems that plague him, and that was the right decision.

Another Napoli fan, @BuckItalian, spoke similarly of Reina.

So, it does appear there are some issues in Reina's game at this point in his career. However, Bayern isn't looking for Reina to be the number one. He just needs to be a competent backup.