Felix Magath thinks Alexander Nübel should return to Bayern Munich from AS Monaco loan

There’s be a standstill in talks between Bayern Munich and AS Monaco over the former potentially recalling keeper Alexander Nübel from his loan spell wit the Ligue 1 outfit to serve as Manuel Neuer’s long-term replacement. Once Neuer’s leg break was found out by the club, Nübel’s name was one of the first options floated by the front office, but it’s proving far more difficult than they might’ve initially anticipated to try to convince Nübel to come back to Munich. The Ligue 1 campaign has already resumed and Nübel started and played the full match in Monaco’s 3-2 win at Auxerre, tallying a total of 4 saves in the process.

While it now looks increasingly less likely that Nübel will come back to Munich to be Neuer’s long-term replacement in goal, Hertha Berlin manager and former Bundesliga legend Felix Magath recently said that he feels the keeper would’ve been wise to make a return to the Rekordmeister.

“I think he has to try if there’s an option. The situation would be different if Nübel had an offer from another top club, with certainty , to still be in goal in six months. Then I would tend to do that if I were him,” Magath recently stressed to Sky Sports (via Sport1). With a return to Bayern, Magath added that Nübel would have an “incredible opportunity because he will be allowed to play in the Champions League and that is a great stage.”\ He can prove himself and show everyone what he can do.”

While the keeper has had a decent stint with Monaco, Magath still doesn’t feel it’s been enough to propel the 26-year old to the point of his career where he wants to be. It never worked out for him at Bayern after joining from Schalke 04 when he was always stuck behind Neuer trying to scrap minutes here and there, but he had even gone through a dip in form in Gelsenkirchen after his transfer to Bayern was preemptively announced. Thus, a move back to Bayern to be the main man during Neuer’s long-term injury absence could be to move that would jumpstart Nübel’s career “that would otherwise never have existed,” according to Magath.

Photo by Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images

Magath also feels that Bayern could make an offer more attractive to both Nübel and Monaco by adding contractual clauses that could let the player assess his options after the end of this season and potentially go back to Monaco. There’s less strings attached with something like that and Nübel could potentially get the best of both worlds, guaranteeing him minutes at both Bayern and Monaco, once he would potentially return. “There is certainly the possibility of structuring the contract in such a way that he can decide after the season whether he stays in Munich or moves on,” Magath explained.

“Playing for Bayern is something completely different. But if the sporting leadership around [Hasan] Salihamidzic and the once great goalkeeper Oliver Kahn are convinced of him, then that means something,” Magath added, suggesting that Nübel should really take it to heart that Bayern’s front office has faith in him.