Manuel Neuer’s agent urges Bayern Munich to strengthen the squad as the goalkeeper is eager to win another Champions League trophy with the club.
This summer transfer window has been strange for Bayern Munich. They moved quickly to land their two prime defensive targets but now the club is struggling to sign players in other positions. Moreover, the transfers of Lucas Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard were completed even before the 2018/19 season ended.
Bayern needs more signings than usual this summer due to the departures of several senior players. The club released Franck Ribery, Rafinha, and Arjen Robben while the transfer of James Rodriguez was not made permanent. Mats Hummels also completed a shock transfer to Borussia Dortmund at the end of June.
Uli Hoeness was frustrated when he was recently asked about transfers as the club is trying to complete some complex deals. Manuel Neuer’s agent has now publicly applied pressure on the club to match his client’s ambitions. Speaking to Suddeutsche Zeitung, Thomas Kroth admitted that Neuer wants to win the Champions League in the next two years. He further added that Bayern needs to sign top players in order to compete against the top teams in Europe.
"“He wants to win Euro 2020 and he wants to win the Champions League again.”“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.”"
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Bayern Munich has failed to reach the Champions League final since the treble win in 2013. The German club regularly reached semi-finals under Pep Guardiola but couldn’t get beyond that. This trend continued under Carlo Ancelotti and Jupp Heynckes. The 2018/19 CL campaign was the worst for Die Roten in this decade as the club was knocked out in the round of 16 by Liverpool.
The English clubs are on the rise while the two Spanish giants will always be in the mix for the Champions League trophy. Bayern will have to add some world-class players to compete with these teams. The club is currently putting all the efforts in signing a top quality winger as they are light in this department after departures of Robben and Ribery.
Kroth also admitted that Neuer will ideally want to end his career at Bayern. However, he refuses to rule out a transfer away from the club when his contract expires in 2021. It is clearly a ploy by Kroth in order to force Bayern to start contract extension process for Neuer.
Neuer is currently the club captain and he remains a pivotal player for the Bundesliga champions. He struggled with injury in 2017/18 season but returned strongly under Niko Kovac. His role in the dressing room will be even more next season as the club lost so many experienced players this summer. It will be a huge surprise if Neuer demands a move away from Bayern anytime soon.