The intelligence-gathering is quiet, and it is happening away from the negotiating table. According to reporting by Alan Nixon cited this week, Kompany “has been gathering reports from old friends in football, all on Pickford” as Bayern begin to plot life after Neuer.
The move is being framed as a 2027 project rather than an immediate January or summer target. Neuer’s current deal runs to 2027, and Bayern’s search for a long-term successor is being built around that timeline.
Pickford is described in the reporting as Bayern’s preferred option ahead of Brighton and Netherlands goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. That is the notable shift: a name that has not previously featured in Bayern’s public shortlist has moved to the top of Kompany’s internal one.
Everton’s stance is firm
Everton do not want to sell. The 32-year-old goalkeeper signed a long-term extension in October 2025 that runs until 2029, and the club continue to view him as central to their present and future.
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“Everton is a really special club to me,” Pickford told TEAMtalk. “It’s been a special time for me and my family.”
He is settled on Merseyside and has never agitated for a move, even during the club’s more difficult stretches. Any approach from Bayern, according to reports, would require “big money” to shift the position, with a wage package around £150,000 a week floated in some reports.
The Woltemade pivot and the Kane connection
The Pickford move sits inside a wider rethink of Bayern’s transfer priorities. In the same round of transfer intelligence, Bayern were reported to be stepping back from a pursuit of Nick Woltemade, the Germany striker Newcastle United signed from VfB Stuttgart last year and who is now on a season-long loan at Juventus with no option to buy.
Woltemade has managed only 44 minutes of football at Juventus this campaign after 11 goals and six assists in 53 appearances at Newcastle. Bayern are still watching him as contingency for Harry Kane, but the immediate momentum has come off the deal.
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The Kane thread runs into the Pickford story too. The two are close from their England time together, and Bayern’s dressing room already contains a route in for Kompany’s outreach.
What Bayern have already lined up
The internal picture at Bayern is not that Neuer is being pushed toward the exit. He extended his contract this year and is expected to see out the 2026-27 campaign. Behind him, Jonas Urbig has been developed as a potential long-term No 1.
Pickford’s name lands in that context, not against it: Bayern want an experienced international to sit either alongside or ahead of Urbig once Neuer steps away, and Kompany’s private soundings suggest he wants that experienced international to be England’s first choice.
No formal bid has been reported, and Everton have received no approach. Pickford remains under contract at Everton until 2029.
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