Neuer injury forces Bayern to search for keepers

Berlin — Bayern Munich want to sign a goalkeeper after the injury to Germany captain Manuel Neuer but the options on the transfer market in the winter period are limited, coach Julian Nagelsmann said on Thursday.

Speaking in Doha, Qatar, at the end of a one-week training camp ahead of the Bundesliga season restart next week, Nagelsmann said that, while 34-year-old Sven Ulreich was ready to step in to replace Neuer, the club still needed another keeper.

“Our job is to look at the market, although it’s difficult in the winter [transfer window] to find goalkeepers as there are not that many options on the market that make sense for us,” Nagelsmann told a news conference.

“It is a complex market, the one for goalkeepers. We are trying to do something. Ulreich has done well in training here but we are obliged to bring in another keeper, irrespective of who is number one and two.”

Neuer was ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a broken bone after a skiing accident.

The keeper, who was part of the Germany team that crashed out of the World Cup in the first round, suffered a lower leg fracture.

Nagelsmann said the choices behind Ulreich were limited to younger keepers, including 19-year-old Johannes Schenk, with no experience of top league matches.

Bayern, top of the Bundesliga, resume their hunt for a record-extending 11th straight league crown against RB Leipzig on January 20. Their only warm-up match is against Austria’s Salzburg on Friday.

“We want to put ourselves on track for the big match against top league rival Leipzig next week,” he said. “We plan it as a full match for those most likely to be in the starting 11.”

Bayern, who are four points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and six ahead of third-placed Leipzig, face Paris St Germain in the Champions League round of 16 in February.

Reuters