Under pressure: Foster's position as Van der Sar's
successor is under threat
Name: Manuel Neuer
Date of birth: 27 March 1986 (age 23)
Height: 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Current club: Schalke 04
German international Manuel Neuer looks increasingly
likely to be the true successor to Edwin van der Sar at
Manchester
United, with a renewed bid for the Schalke
goalkeeper expected next summer, but possibly as soon as January to
head off interest from Bayern Munich.
United’s scouts have been trailing Neuer all season at the
Veltins Arena and the Bundesliga side are now expecting to lose him
and are holding out for £15million.
United are likely to offer about £12m, which would still be a
British record for a goalkeeper. Sources at Schalke say United have
already made one bid, last summer, which was rebuffed.
CSKA Moscow’s Russia No1 Igor Akinfeev, 23, and Bayer
Leverkusen’s Rene Adler, 24, the current No1 in the German national
team, have also been checked out, but Neuer has attracted the
strongest interest.
What is clear is that Ben Foster will not be trusted to step
into Van der Sar’s shoes next season.
Neuer, 23, is familiar to England fans after starring in
Germany’s European Under-21 final victory last June and is a cult
figure at Schalke, having grown up in the club’s home city of
Gelsenkirchen and been a fan of the team all his life.
