VfB Stuttgart survived Bundesliga relegation by virtue of beating Hamburg SV handedly over two legs in the relegation playoffs, but the squad is undergoing some changes during the summer transfer window. It’s been well known that they’re in the market for a new goalkeeper as the club does not see either Fabian Bredlow or Florian Muller as long-term options, and this was the case even before they survived Bundesliga relegation.
The Swabians have been linked with several names in terms of potential keepers to sign including RB Salzburg’s Philipp Köhn and FC Augsburg’s Rafael Gikiewicz, but both have essentially been ruled out as options. They see Köhn as being too expensive and they haven’t shown enough concrete interest in Gikiewicz, who is out of contract at Augsburg this summer.
Per Bild (as per @iMiaSanMia), Bayern Munich’s Yann Sommer has been shortlisted by Stuttgart as a potential transfer target as well as Alexander Nübel, whose loan spell at AS Monaco technically ends at the end of this month — he’s officially a Bayern player once again as of July 1st. In terms of potential negotiations to come with Bayern for either player should talks progress for either of them at any point during the transfer window, Stuttgart feels that Sebastian Hoeneß’ connection with Bayern would be a huge bonus working in their favor.
Bild reports that if it’s Nübel that Stuttgart pursues more than Sommer, it would more than likely just be a one-year loan deal, but Sky Sports’ Florian Plettenberg reports that there’s not been any direct contact between the keeper and Stuttgart yet. He also reports that Bayern is interested in securing a buy back clause for the 26-year old, who’s keen on making concrete steps to make a move to the Premier League in England.
It’s worth remembering that Nübel does have a bit of a negative history with Bayern, as it’s come out that he was not too fond of what he felt was favoritism shown towards Manuel Neuer by Toni Tapalovic, who was sacked midway through last season. They’re actively trying to bring him back to the club, which wouldn’t exactly be the best look for Nübel, who really pushed for a move away from Bayern when it became clear enough to him that he wouldn’t be getting as much playing time as was contractually agreed upon when he joined from Schalke 04.
