The goalkeeper drama is still swirling through the state of Bavaria in the wake of Manuel Neuer’s brutal ski injury. For Bayern Munich head coach Julian Nagelsmann, it’s simply another matter that’s out of his hands.
Like anyone else, Nagelsmann must have seen and read all the reports that have come and gone. Dominik Livaković. Yassine “Bono” Bounou. Yann Sommer. That Bosnian dude. But if Nagelsmann has a private preference, he’s not tipping his hand.
“There’s a contract situation. We have a sporting director [Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidžić] and a technical director [Marco Neppe] who take care of that,” Nagelsmann explained in a recent presser (via @iMiaSanMia). “That’s not my job.”
Okay, maybe it’s a little bit his job — as head coach, Nagelsmann has a lot of say in the profile of player he’d like to work with, and he’s worked closely with Brazzo and Neppe in the past on recruitment.
And Nagelsmann does have personal links to some of the rumored players on Bayern’s radar. Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel isn’t likely to move in this transfer window, but Nagelsmann overlapped with the Swiss international way back in his days at TSG Hoffenheim.
How about Bayern’s own Alexander Nübel — the original succession plan Brazzo put in place for Neuer? The young German has enjoyed a fruitful multi-year loan spell in France for AS Monaco, but he’d be starting more or less from square one with the current bossman.
“There was no exchange. I’ve not really had contact with [Nubel], he was already gone when I came here,” Nagelsmann explained in the press conference. “I know him as a goalkeeper, but not as a person. We texted a bit at the beginning, but that was long ago.”
Hardly reassuring words for Nübel, who, were he to return to Munich, would reportedly like assurances about his long-term prospects at the club. But it is what it is.
“If he comes back and becomes our #1, then it’d be my job,” Nagelsmann added. “I can say a lot now and in the end if he stays in Monaco, then that’s irrelevant.”
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