Bundesliga: New bang at FCB: Kahn announces “clear talks”.

How can Manuel Neuer and FC Bayern get back together? After his powerfully eloquent attacks and the quick reprimand by Oliver Kahn, this exciting question outshines the explosive situation at the football record champion.

“Clear talks” are pending between the national team captain, who has been injured for a long time, and the Munich bosses, as Kahn announced. Then there will be talk of the huge fuss that Neuer triggered with striking and emotional interview statements. He caught the club, the bosses and coach Julian Nagelsmann cold.

Neuer disappointed with the decision on Toni Tapalovic

“What Manuel said in parts of these two interviews in connection with the release of Toni Tapalovic does neither justice to him as captain nor to the values ​​of FC Bayern. In addition, his statements are untimely because we are facing very important games,” criticized Kahn at the request of the German Press Agency. The day before the Wolfsburg game this Sunday (5:30 p.m. / DAZN) and a week and a half before the Champions League showdown with Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain, nobody was talking about the 4-0 win in the DFB Cup in Mainz. The dispute between the club and the newcomer superimposes all sporting issues for the time being.

The point in time shortly before the PSG round of 16 and the atypical eloquence of Neuer, who otherwise as a captain is not the great plain text speaker, bring Bayern new problems in an already tricky season. The sorting out of his long-time goalkeeping coach Tapalovic was “the most blatant” thing he had experienced in his career, Neuer said in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and “The Athletic”. “For me it was a blow when I was already on the ground. I felt like my heart was being ripped out.”

For the Bayern bosses, statements like these are an affront. Neuer causes an escalation. There had already been a crunch between the club management and the world’s best goalkeeper for years: as part of the contract extension in 2020. Together with his advisor, Neuer had also caused a stir in the media.

The separation of the new confidante and best man Tapalovic, promoted by trainer Julian Nagelsmann, hit the new man, who was working in rehab after breaking his lower leg, hard. The soon to be 37-year-old is trying to demonstrate strength as a long-standing guarantor of Bayern success and as a decisive factor in the 2014 World Cup triumph – which is justified given his football vita. However, he is currently in a weakened position after his serious skiing accident, which was also very costly for the club.

Contract with FC Bayern until the summer of 2024

Neuer, who says he is “doing well” again after the accident, justified the ski tour as an important part of “regeneration for body and psyche”. In his opinion, it was not dangerous, “actually a children’s birthday party”. But the consequences and the long downtime for at least the rest of the season speak for themselves.

“I have to see how I’ll come back. When the time comes, I’ll look in the mirror and tell myself the truth, like I always do. If I don’t perform, I’ll vacate the post. But don’t count on it!” , Neuer assured the return to old class. He also wants to get into the goal of the national team again. “The best will play. If I want to play, I have to be the best,” said Neuer. He wants to prove it to everyone. The interview leaves room for speculation that Neuer could see his club future elsewhere.

His contract with FC Bayern runs until June 30, 2024, while that of Swiss national goalkeeper Yann Sommer, who is a substitute, is a year longer. That could be understood as the club’s first message to Neuer. The Tapalovic-Aus hit Neuer much harder. “It came out of nowhere for me,” said the goalkeeper.

There was no “comprehensible reason”. The goalkeeping coach separation occupied him even more than the criticism from Munich fan circles after his commitment from FC Schalke in 2011, when posters with the inscription “Koan Neuer” were held up. Even now he is polarizing again in the crowd of followers.

“That was awesome too. I’ve gotten a thick skin over the years. But what happened now is a completely different story. Everyone in our goalkeeper group was torn, and people burst into tears.” , described Neuer.

Kahn draws parallels with Sepp Maier

Kahn recalled the end of his trusted goalkeeping coach Sepp Maier in 2004 with the national team under Jürgen Klinsmann, who later also dethroned Kahn as number 1. “I was disappointed at the time, too, and I was angry at the DFB. But the common goals were my priority. They were more important to me than my personal feelings. And that’s why I decided not to express myself publicly at the time. Manuel has now done the opposite,” said Kahn.

A fine for Neuer is an obvious consequence. Longtime captain Philipp Lahm had to pay what is probably the highest fine at FC Bayern to date in 2009, when he was asked to pay 50,000 euros after an interview critical of the club.

More important than the amount of the fine is the question of future cooperation with Nagelsmann. The relationship, which both describe as professional, is likely to have cooled down after the most recent development. Unlike that from Neuer to national coach Hansi Flick, Nagelsmann’s predecessor.

“In general, he’s here every day, we see each other and of course we exchange ideas. I think there’s no question that I wish a world-class goalkeeper like Manu was healthy again and was in goal,” said Nagelsmann said on Friday in the press conference for the Wolfsburg game – before the publication of Neuer’s interviews. As difficult as Nagelsmann and Neuer’s future together seems to be, other mechanisms apply in fast-moving professional football than in the normal professional world.