Nearly a decade on from the Champions League final in Kyiv, Loris Karius has resurfaced in the planning of the biggest club in German football. Bayern Munich have put the 33-year-old on an extended list of goalkeepers they are considering for next season, Yahoo Sports reports, in what is comfortably the most eye-catching name in a search that otherwise leans on more conventional choices.
The search is on because of Manuel Neuer. The 40-year-old is widely expected to end a 16-year Bayern career at the close of this season, having suffered a partial tendon tear in his right foot during a win over Mainz. He is not expected back before January and the club is increasingly treating his retirement at season’s end as a working assumption.
Jonas Urbig, 23, has been groomed internally as the long-term successor. But sporting director Max Eberl has pushed back on the idea of simply handing him the shirt. Eberl told reporters that the club still trusts Urbig in the interim but that the hierarchy around Neuer stays as it is, according to Yahoo Sports. The plan for next season is an experienced partner, not a straight promotion.
Baumann’s record chase complicates Bayern’s first choice
Oliver Baumann is the sporting director’s preferred option. The 36-year-old Hoffenheim captain is on 532 Bundesliga appearances and is chasing Karl-Heinz Körbel’s all-time record of 602, which makes a move to Bayern as a backup difficult to square with his own career target, the goalkeeper file at Goal explains.
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Bernd Leno, 34, is also under consideration. The Fulham keeper is reportedly open to a backup role closer to home, and his Bundesliga pedigree fits the brief Bayern are working to.
Karius’s second life in Gelsenkirchen
Karius is the twist. The former Liverpool and Newcastle United goalkeeper is in his second full season at Schalke 04 and is under contract until 2028. Last season he was the best goalkeeper in the 2. Bundesliga, keeping 13 clean sheets in 30 appearances as the club clinched promotion, per Bundesliga.com.
Schalke’s return to the top flight has been rough. They sit 17th after nine matches with six points, and a straight descent back down would reopen the question of Karius’s level. Any Bayern move for him would hinge on Schalke staying up.
Planning aimed at the summer window
None of this needs resolving in January. Neuer has set no formal retirement date, Bayern’s planning is aimed at the summer window, and Urbig is in line for more minutes while the incumbent recovers. The names on Eberl’s list, Baumann first, Leno next, Karius as the outlier, are being filed for when the senior role formally changes hands.
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