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Rudi Völler feels Bayern Munich star Manuel Neuer is still very much a part of the German national team

For Völler, Neuer’s status with Die Mannschaft hasn’t changed despite his serious leg injury.

DFB Announces New Director Of Germany’s Men’s National Team Photo by Markus Gilliar - GES Sportfoto/Getty Images

Question marks have surrounded Manuel Neuer and his future with the German national team after he broke his leg on a ski holiday after the World Cup in Qatar.

Neuer is now sidelined for the remainder of the season for Bayern Munich, but he’s still confident that he’ll be fully fit and back on time for the club’s preseason preparations for the 2023/24 campaign this July. He’s more than ready to re-enter the fray and challenge Yann Sommer for the number one spot once he’s back and it’s something that the former fully expects and is ready for, as it wasn’t something that made him decide not to leave Borussia Monchengladbach for Bayern.

Neuer has also gotten himself into a bit of hot water with the comments he made in a recent interview about Bayern’s sacking of goalkeeping coach Toni Tapalovic. It’s understood that there will be some sort of punishment brandished to the keeper, but the front office would prefer to wait until after the Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain.

Stripping Neuer of his club captaincy status has been an idea that’s been touted around as far as what, exactly, his punishment will be, but there’s been nothing official from the club themselves in that regard. By that same token, when new DFB president Rudi Völler was asked about Neuer’s status will the German national team, he didn’t feel that the keeper’s status with Die Mannschaft has changed at all with his leg break or with the upcoming disciplinary action from Bayern’s front office.

“Of course, he’s the captain,” Völler bluntly replied when he was directly asked whether or not Neuer had a future with the German national team speaking to Sky Sports Germany ahead of the DFB-Pokal clash between SV Sandhuasen and SC Freiburg. There have been calls for Germany to give either Kevin Trapp or Marc Andre ter-Stegen the number one spot for Germany, but that’s not how Völler sees it.

The DFB president said he also feels that Neuer and Bayern will resolve their off-pitch issues and bury the hatchet. “I can imagine that those responsible — if they haven’t already done so — will get together shortly and try to get it under control again. Maybe a few minor mistakes were made on both sides, but by no means so bad that it can’t be fixed,” he said.

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