Christian Fruchtl extends contract with Bayern Munich until 2020

Bayern Munich have announced that keeper Christian Früchtl has extended his contract with the club until 2020. The 18-year old’s current contract was set to expire at the end of this season, but the club’s decision to extend it for two more years sees that Manuel Neuer will continue to adequate backups in both Früchtl and Sven Ulreich.

Fruchtl’s agent, Christian Rößner was thrilled with the 2-year extension, seeing it as a great opportunity for Früchtl to continue to grow under Bayern’s veteran keepers (via Sport Bild):

We are happy that the collaboration with FC Bayern and Christian has been extended to 2020. The club has great confidence in Christian, who undoubtedly is one of the club’s biggest talents. Christian’s great goal is sometime to stand in goal for the professionals.

Given Neuer’s extended absence due to his metatarsal injury, there was a window of opportunity for Früchtl to potentially see some first team minutes back in the beginning of December when Ulreich sustained an adductor problem. Unfortunately, though, Früchtl sustained a torn ankle ligament in training just ahead of Bayern’s league match against Eintracht Frankfurt on December 9th, forcing Bayern to call Tom Starke into action. Starke also started in goal for Bayern’s following league match against FC Köln.

Still, Früchtl has been a fantastic talent for both Bayern Munich’s 2nd team and Germany’s U19 squad, and the future looks bright. Sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic just recently emphasized how Bayern are always going to keep spots open in the first team for youngsters to work their way in to; a category that Früchtl could perfectly fall in:

We have good youngsters, but with the quality on our roster it’s difficult. But I have told the players and coaches that we’ll always have one or two spots on the roster that we’ll keep open for top talents. Of course, they have to be really good.