Ahead of the trip to Doha for the winter camp, Bayern Munich was looking to resolve the goalkeeping situation of the squad. However, they are yet to find a breakthrough in talks with Monaco for recalling Alexander Nubel from the two-year loan spell.
The French club resumed Ligue 1 action on Wednesday against Auxerre, with Alexander Nubel in the goal. The German goalkeeper couldn’t keep a clean sheet, but Monaco managed to clinch a thrilling victory. In the build-up to the game, head coach Phillippe Clement insisted that Nubel is firmly focused on playing for Monaco despite speculation about his future.
Bayern may find it difficult to get Nubel back from Monaco in January since the French club doesn’t have a replacement lined up for him. After a shaky start to life in Ligue 1, Nubel has been the first-choice goalkeeper for the French club.
It does look like Nubel is also not so keen on returning to Bavaria before the end of the season. While talking to Bild this week, Nubel expressed his desire to stay in Monaco and honour his contract with the French club.
"“It doesn’t make much sense for me to come back. I don’t know how serious Manuel’s injury is. I’m very happy here and I still have a lot of games ahead with Monaco. I realized here how important playing games is. I don’t want to do without that anymore.”"
Nubel also insisted that Monaco has the final say about his loan deal. The German goalkeeper’s words could have a significant impact on Bayern’s efforts to bring him back in January. Nubel is unsure about getting consistent game time in Bavaria when Neuer recovers from injury in the summer.
Die Roten will have to give assurances to Nubel that he will play the majority of games in Ruckrunde to break the loan deal with Monaco. Both clubs also need to reach an agreement over a compensation fee since there was no break clause in the previously agreed loan deal in 2021.
Bayern will be hoping to get more clarity on this situation next week before the team flies to Doha for the winter camp. If Monaco remains firm on not negotiating a deal, Die Roten will have to switch attention to other targets. Rekordmeister will certainly sign a goalkeeper for the second half of the season.
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Apart from Nubel, Monchengladbach’s Yann Sommer is also on Bayern’s radar to strengthen the goalkeeping department. The Swiss goalkeeper will become a free agent in the summer, so Gladbach will be open to selling him in January for a small fee. Sommer is set to have talks with Gladbach over his future in the coming days. Die Roten will have to move swiftly for him in January since there is significant interest from Premier League for the Swiss shot-stopper.