With Jonas Urbig looking the sure-fire heir apparent to German goalkeeping legend Manuel Neuer at Bayern Munich, the German record champions are making plans for the future of Stuttgart loanee Alexander Nübel. The local Münchener Abendzeitung reports that Bayern hope to sell Nübel for a €20m fee. The 29-year-old currently maintains a €12m estimated market value.
Nübel is currently in the midst of his third season as the VfB Stuttgart No. 1. Bayern initially loaned the Paderborn-native out to the Württemberger on a season-long deal for the 2023/24 campaign. The arrangement was extended for two more years by newly installed Bayern board-member-for-sport Max Eberl in the summer of 2024.
Despite the fact that Nübel has enjoyed his fair share of success in the BaWü capital, Stuttgart are widely reported to not be interested in signing him permanently. The Swabians are prepared to promote youngster Dennis Seimen to serve as the new No. 1 next season. Seimen is currently on loan with Nübel’s hometown club of SC Paderborn 07.
Which club Nübel may potentially be sold to isn’t clear yet, but one can assume that the now twice-capped German international will generate plenty of interest. It’s not entirely conceivable that Nübel may wish to return to Bayern and compete with Urbig for the No. 1 spot, but it is highly unlikely. Neuer has also not given any indication that he wishes to retire and may be tending goal for Bayern next season.
The next chapter in Nübel’s career shall prove interesting in any event. Get German Football News is pleased to supply a brief time synopsis of Nübel’s unconventional journey in pursuit of Neuer’s No. 1 spot for both club and country. After that, it time to make some bold predictions about the future of both keepers.
Why didn’t Nübel inherit Neuer’s spot?
An initial misunderstanding
In the midst of the 2019/20 Bundesliga campaign, it appeared clear that Nübel was on course to be Bayern’s next starting keeper. Many Bundesliga journalists nevertheless simply falsely assumed that Nübel’s career trajectory would parallel Neuer’s. Both players worked their way up at Schalke 04 before moving to the Rekordmeister. It still remained the case that Neuer (only 35 at the time) wasn’t ready to hang up his cleats.
In January of 2020, Nübel (on an expiring contract) was free to negotiate a free transfer to a different club. At the end of the month, Nübel announced he had signed on with Bayern for the 2020/21 season. Neuer too was sitting on an expiring contract at the time and Nübel may have expected to be the starter the very next season. Neuer nevertheless opted to extend for another year himself.
At the time, Neuer was not far removed from metatarsal surgery and repeated injury problems related to foot fractures). It remained very much unclear as to whether Neuer could avoid the injury bug altogether, let alone work himself back up to the form of his prime. Nübel and many others certainly sensed that Neuer’s career may be entering its twilight phase.
Problems with Nübel’s agent
Neuer remained healthy throughout most of the 2020/21 campaign and Nübel mostly spent the year sitting on the bench. Nübel was gifted a start in the opening round Pokal fixture and made two Champions League starts, but was only tapped by then FCB head coach Hansi Flick for one league start over the course of the season. This came on the season’s penultimate matchday 33 encounter against Freiburg.
All told, Nübel made four appearances across all competitions. This, according to the keeper’s agent, was a deal breaker. Rumors abounded that – after Neuer re-signed – Nübel was guaranteed at least five appearances so long as he was forced to work as Neuer’s back-up. Though Nübel himself has denied this and repeatedly stated that he learned a lot working behind Neuer, the next step strongly suggests that the rumors were true.
Nübel’s misses his best chance
With Neuer (not long removed from all the injury problems) looking fit again and set to play for several more years, a long-term loan for Nübel seemed the best option. Bayern opted to ship him out to AS Monaco on a two-year-long arrangement to work with former Bayern head coach Niko Kovac in Ligue 1. Nübel served successfully as the Monaco No 1. during the 2021/22 season. He would nevertheless find himself something of a victim of this success.
In December of 2022, Neuer found himself frustrated by the German national team’s humiliating group exit in the 2022 Qatar World Cup and opted to take a skiing holiday to blow off some steam. Unfortunately for Neuer, this decision proved disastrous. Neuer broke his leg on the slopes and faced a long spell on the sidelines. With over a month to go before Bundesliga play resumed after the World Cup break, Bayern had to secure a new keeper.
There was plenty of talk of recalling Nübel early as he only had six months left on his loan deal. Nübel and his agent reportedly insisted, however, that Nübel receive some guarantee that he would ultimately be in line to succeed Neuer as he was doing well in France and pumping up his estimated market value. In the end, then top sporting executives Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic decided against the move.
The loan out to Stuttgart
Borussia Mönchengladbach and Swiss national team keeper Yann Sommer was eventually brought in to place-hold for the injured Neuer. Sommer finished out the 2022/23 Bayern title campaign before moving to the Serie A. During the summer of 2023, Thomas Tuchel and the makeshift Bayern front office decided that Nübel was simply too much of a headache and loaned him out to Stuttgart.
Neuer still wasn’t ready to return yet, but Tuchel and the rest of the staff believed that (as he did during Neuer’s last serious injury in 2017/18) could work adequately as a short-term placeholder. Israeli keeper Daniel Peretz (currently having his own issues with playing time on loan with HSV) was brought in to audition as Neuer’s ultimate replacement. Nübel increasingly looked not to have a future at Bayern.
The 2024 German hosted Euros
Neuer, after returning to serve as Bayern’s No. 1, did demonstrate a form dip heading into the 2024 continental championship. Many German press sources were calling for Neuer’s long-standing role as Germany’s No.1 to be revoked. Nübel still couldn’t hope to rise up the pecking order. Selected as Julian Nagelsmann’s fourth-choice keeper behind Neuer, Marc André ter Stegen, and Oliver Baumann, Nübel didn’t survive the final round of cuts.
After the tournament ended, it seemed the best solution for all parties involved would be a renewal of the Stuttgart loan agreement. The new FCB administrative apparatus decided to loan Nübel back out to Stuttgart on an extended loan with a purchase option. Bayern could continue to observe him from afar. Nübel could get his chance under Nagelsmann in less meaningful matches. Ulreich, Neuer, and Peretz could manage the Bayern goal.
Urbig supplants Nübel and Peretz
Nübel – thanks in large part to Neuer’s retirement and an injury to ter Stegen – ended up earning two German national team caps in the autumn of 2024 while continuing to tend the Stuttgart goal. Neuer, meanwhile, had some injury and form issues as the 2024/25 campaign. Bayern’s decision to acquire Köln keeper Jonas Urbig during the January 2025 transfer window and boldly declare him Neuer’s successor effectively settled the matter.
The choice to officially declare Urbig the club’s keeper of the future was much needed. After so much time and speculation over the course of four separate managerial front office regimes simply left the German giants with the need for clarity on this issue. Surely, neither Peretz nor Nübel will wish to break the dynamic at their parent club at this point. The situation offers them only slim prospects.
Why does the future hold for Nübel and Neuer?
Time for four bold predictions from the author:
Prediction #1: Neuer will re-sign with Bayern
Over the course of this entire story, Neuer has been signing one year contract extensions with Bayern. Another one looks to be in the cards here. Still producing noteworthy performances at the age of 40, Neuer naturally has no desire to retire when he can still produce. One expects that Neuer will wish to continue for two to three more years, but his club will simply hedge their bets with another one-year-deal.
Prediction #2: Neuer will NOT return to the German national team
All experienced Bundesliga journalists find this talk of Neuer reversing his decision to step down from the national level to be total hot air. Barring some sort of super form surge in the spring, there’s no reason for Nagelsmann to bring back an actor who hasn’t been working on this level back. Unlike previous late-career returnees such as Thomas Müller, Mats Hummels, and Toni Kroos, Neuer also doesn’t seem to want to return.
Prediction #3: Nübel will earn his third cap in March
Neuer’s potential return to Germany is being spurred on by the fact that current No. 1 Oliver Baumann has only ten caps to his name. That can be construed as a reasonable cause for concern, though Baumann remains a competent enough candidate to work in goal during the coming World Cup. One surmises that Nagelsmann will at least try and get his current first-choice back up some minutes ahead of the tournament.
Prediction #3: Bayern will succeed in selling Nübel for €20m
To put something of a bow on Nübel’s story, it’s been a long and convoluted journey back to peak status for this player. Plenty of clubs both in Germany and abroad will happily fork over the cash to secure his services. The lad who once wished to be Neuer’s successor will (in a certain sense) fulfill this goal. Bayern once purchased Neuer for a record €30m. Nübel will come close to this distinction.
