Former AS Monaco goalkeeping coach says Alexander Nübel can be as good as Manuel Neuer

It’s looking increasingly likely that Alexander Nübel won’t be interested in being recalled to Bayern Munich from his loan spell at AS Monaco as the former is still in a search for a Manuel Neuer replacement. Neuer being out for the rest of the season with a broken leg as a result of a skiing accident has given Julian Nagelsmann, Hasan Salihamidzic, and Oliver Kahn a real headache ahead of the ruckrunde, but they’ve insisted that they don’t want to be rushed into making the incorrect decision with who they’re going to go with.

Bayern has made it quite clear that they’re not planning on relying on Sven Ulreich to serve as the number one goalkeeper in Neuer’s absence, knowing that they need to bring in a goalkeeper of top quality to do the job. They’re also showing a preference to a German speaker, and someone that will also be a long-term option as opposed to just a stopgap. Borussia Monchengladbach’s Yann Sommer, for both of those aforementioned reasons, is a name that’s towards the top of Bayern’s list.

On paper, Nübel coming back would’ve been the easiest option for Bayern, but it’s proving far more difficult than they might’ve anticipated. Nonetheless, one of his former goalkeeping coaches at Monaco recently said that Nübel could become as good of a keeper as Neuer. “Under the right conditions, Alex can reach Neuer’s level,” Vatroslav Mihačić recently told Bild (via @iMiaSanMia).

While Nübel’s track record at Monaco is far better than it was at Bayern, history doesn’t exactly bode well for the keeper. After his move to Bayern from Schalke, nothing really seemed to go right for him. His contract when he signed for Bayern included a clause that said he would play at least 8-10 matches in his first season, but that didn’t even come close to happening and he knew he had to leave to get consistent minutes. Even after the deal had been announced that he would join Bayern, his form with Schalke took a significant drop, and he had been benched by David Wagner, who was their manager at the time.

So far this season, Nübel has kept a total of 15 clean sheets in Ligue 1 with Monaco, but he still has a long, long way to go to broach the same status as Neuer.