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Destination England? Why now is the right time for Neuer to leave Bayern

  /  autty

The World Cup winner's agent hit out at the club's current state, perhaps hastening his client's departure from the Allianz Arena

Manuel Neuer is reaching the end of his career.

Thomas Kroth believes that his client has little hope of doing that at Bayern, whom he believes can no longer compete with the Premier League's finest, on the field or in the transfer market.

"He wants to win Euro 2020 and he wants to win the Champions League again," Neuer's representative told the Suddeutsche Zeitung.

"Manuel is success-oriented. My impression is that the gap to the top four English top teams is already serious and the Munich squad is currently not yet as competitive or set up to tackle Manuel's goals seriously. When he realises that Bayern are responding, then he will probably blossom again.

"He does not want to retire in 2021. Now, he is in the phase in which he has to decide: how will things progress in the future? Signing a contract extension and ending his career at Bayern is of course the obvious option, but it's not the only one."

With these statements, Kroth has essentially put Neuer on the market.

"Manuel's behaviour is totally unacceptable," the 1990 World Cup winner told Bild. "As the captain of Bayern, he should speak to the club if he has a problem with the situation over signings.

"The doors of the management are always open. I know his agent – he's someone who doesn't usually show up in public of his own free will. Manuel will have agreed with him. My representatives would not have been able to express themselves in this way without my consent."

Injuries have hit Neuer hard in recent years, which perhaps helps to explain why he might feel concerned at how long it will take Bayern to put themselves back in a position to win the Champions League for the first time since 2013.

He missed the end of the 2016-17 campaign and then the majority of the 2017-18 season with a metatarsal fracture. He returned to play for Germany at last summer's World Cup in Russia but did not look at his best as the then-world champions crashed out at the group stage. 

Neuer's 2018-19 was also hindered by various problems, resulting in him being unavailable for almost a quarter of this club's Bundesliga games.

Bayern can no longer rely on Neuer to put the gloves on every week as his body is breaking down. 

This, coupled with his agent's comments in the media mean that Neuer is no longer an integral member of the squad.

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