The future of Manuel Neuer remains a central topic at FC Bayern Munich. On Saturday evening, sporting director Max Eberl took the spotlight with an answer that caused hilarity, triggered by a direct question about the captain’s contract.
Sky pundit Lothar Matthäus had raved about Bayern‘ s performances in the current season before their 5:1 away win at RB Leipzig and passed the ball on to Eberl: „Now we just need to extend Manuel Neuer’s contract.“ Before the sporting director could respond, presenter Sebastian Hellmann took the floor – asking for a clear answer with a „yes“ or „no“ without any excuses.
Eberl did not respond, instead referring to past experiences with a wink: „I was briefed for this interview. There was one line: ‚Have you learned from Thomas Müller?‘ Then you know what’s coming next.“
Memories of Müller still present
The background is well known: in January 2025, Eberl had publicly held out the prospect of a contract extension with Thomas Müller. A few weeks later, honorary president Uli Hoeneß retracted this suggestion at the premiere of the Müller documentary and made it clear that there would be no extension.
Müller finally left the record champions in the summer and started a new chapter in the MLS. Eberl later admitted that he had „made a mistake“ at the time. The 52-year-old wanted to avoid precisely such a situation now and deliberately remained vague with Neuer.
His assessment was correspondingly cautious: „We’ll wait and see. Manu should turn 40 first. Then we’ll see what happens.“ The goalkeeper’s contract expires in the summer of 2026.
Neuer himself emphasized in December that his physical condition is crucial: „It’s really also about the moment to say, okay, how is my body? How is my health? Does it make sense to continue? And I have to delay this decision a little longer.“ The 39-year-old held out the prospect of a decision „towards the end of March, April“.
After the game in Leipzig, Neuer was once again asked about his future. When asked whether he could even retire in the summer after a strong save against Diomande, the goalkeeper replied: „We’ll see. I can’t answer that yet. But of course it was important.“