Recent reports indicate that Bayern Munich are closing in on a contract extension with Manuel Neuer, which would keep the legendary goalkeeper at the club past his 40th birthday. Given that advanced age and the inevitable decline that even all time greats of the sport such as Neuer eventually succumb to, the terms of the former Schalke 04 goalkeeper’s contract need to be altered accordingly. And it seems that the agreement both the club and player are nearing certainly contains a step down in terms of salary and game time, via @iMiaSanMia:
The terms of Manuel Neuer’s new contract will not be the same as the current one. The fixed salary will be decreased and the performance based bonuses will significantly increase. If he plays all games and has a successful season with the team, then the overall salary (including the bonuses) would reach €20m/year again. Nevertheless, the club has clearly asked Neuer to give up some games in the future. Allowing the #2 to have game time and preparing his future successor are one of Neuer’s responsibilities – although this particular point is not written in the contract.
Of course, Bayern went down the road of trying to convince Neuer to give up some games when Alexander Nübel arrived, only to see Neuer give up no game time at all as the other former Schalke goalkeeper was forced out on loan in order to prevent stagnating. Will this strategy go better the second time around? If the report is correct, the Bayern bosses certainly hope it will…
