Manuel Neuer’s return to the training pitch is edging ever closer. If his rehabilitation programme continues to go to plan, “I think I'll be able to run out on the training ground next week,” the Bayern captain revealed in an interview with FC Bayern TV. Neuer also said it’s “realistic” that he could play for Bayern before the end of the season, ahead of this summer’s World Cup. “But it’s very difficult to name a time,” he added.
Neuer has been sidelined since mid-September due to a hairline fracture in his left foot. At the moment he’s working for six hours every day at Säbener Straße. The goalkeeper, who celebrates his 32nd birthday next Tuesday, is completing therapy and rehabilitation exercises “which are pushing me to my limits. It’s very demanding.”
Irrespective of the rehab work, the months of waiting for his comeback are also a mental challenge, as Neuer revealed. “Obviously you get impatient. Athletes are very ambitious and it hurts when you’re an onlooker for along time,” he said, explaining the “highs and lows of such a long rehab phase. You have to look for small victories. We've always set ourselves training goals and achieved them. I'm very grateful to my doctors, physios and fitness coaches for accompanying me so well.”
In the video interview, Neuer talks extensively about his rehab, his replacement Sven Ulreich and Bayern’s current situation:
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