Friday, February 10, 2023 at 09:56• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 10:04

Manuel Neuer may face a million-dollar fine, writes BILD. The goalkeeper of Bayern Munich recently showed up The Athletic and the South German Zeitung negative about the club management of the record master. The reason was the sudden resignation of goalkeeper coach and good friend Toni Tapalovic.

BILDreporter Christian Falk knows in the podcast Bayern Insiders to reveal that a meeting took place this week between Neuer and Julian Nagelsmann. The goalkeeper will no longer be in action this season due to a leg fracture he sustained while skiing, but recently caused unrest within the club with his statements. Neuer not only attacked Nagelsmann, but also spoke negatively about directors Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic after Tapalovic’s dismissal.

Philipp Lahm was fined in 2010 for a similar interview. Lahm criticized the purchase policy and accused the club management of a lack of philosophy. Bayern refused to comment on the amount of the fine at the time, but did let go that the former defender had received the highest fine ever imposed by the club. BILD reported not much later that it was an amount of 50,000 euros. Luca Toni was also called to account for a critical interview in the South German Zeitung.

According to BILD Lahm’s fine was based on a standard clause in his contract. For example, it is said that the club may impose fines of up to 25,000 euros if a player violates his contractual obligations. The addition that the contractual fines could also be imposed simultaneously meant that Bayern could claim twice against Lahm. The former German international therefore received a penalty of 50,000 euros.

In the current player contracts, the fines would be arranged differently, according to the boulevard newspaper. In the case of contractual penalties, the German record champion may decide to withhold one gross monthly salary. With Neuer’s estimated annual salary of more than 20 million euros, that would cost about 1.6 million euros in his case. The clause applies, among other things, to ‘intentional’ and ‘negligent’ violations. It is up to Bayern whether they consider the interview “intentional” or his skiing accident “negligent”.