Deployment of Manuel Neuer at the start of the season “too ambitious”

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is very likely to miss the start of the Bundesliga season at German champions Bayern Munich.

“It’s a very tight schedule for the first game, we need time and patience – and he gets the time,” said coach Thomas Tuchel on Saturday at the training camp in Rottach-Egern am Tegernsee: “After all, that’s Manuel Neuer.”

The 37-year-old will “continue to complete an individual programme”, said Tuchel, which is why the national goalkeeper will not be going on the club’s Asia trip (July 24 to August 3). “He will alternate between individual athletic training and individual goalkeeper training. The plan is that he will not go to Asia, but will then be partially integrated into team training,” said Tuchel.

FC Bayern starts the season at Werder Bremen on August 18, and playing there or in the Supercup against RB Leipzig six days earlier seems “too ambitious,” emphasized Tuchel. Neuer broke his lower leg on a ski tour in December and has been out ever since. However, he’s been back in goalie-specific training for weeks now.