Felix Magath Admits Defeat In Manuel Neuer Contract Battle

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Schalke’s strug­gles on and off the pitch have been well doc­u­mented and roundly crit­i­cized, and it seems things are only going to get worse for the konigs­blauen. Speak­ing to Bild, Felix Mag­ath admit­ted that Schalke may not be able to hold onto Manuel Neuer and other play­ers due to the club’s finan­cial sit­u­a­tion and their poor league form.

Schalke have col­lected just nine points from their first eleven Bun­desliga matches, and that’s far from good enough for a side who did so well last sea­son. With Euro­pean com­pe­ti­tion look­ing more like a hope than an expec­ta­tion at this point, some of the team’s big­ger play­ers may be look­ing to move on at the end of the season.

One of those play­ers is Germany’s num­ber one goal­keeper, Manuel Neuer. The young shot-stopper’s con­tract is set to run out in 2012, and with Schalke expe­ri­enc­ing so many finan­cial prob­lems, they may not have the cash needed to sup­port the player’s demands. Also, with­out Euro­pean foot­ball, the side’s qual­ity play­ers will most likely be look­ing to move to ensure that they’re play­ing at the high­est level every season.

“Of course I do not trust entirely that I will be able to keep Manuel Neuer and all the other players. Although the sit­u­a­tion is some­what more dif­fi­cult with less rev­enue, we have cre­ated the con­di­tions to become cham­pi­ons in years to come.”

The last thing Mag­ath needs is to lose the core of his already fad­ing side. Last sea­son, key play­ers were moved on because of finan­cial insta­bil­ity, and their replace­ments have shown them­selves to be unable to match their pre­de­ces­sors’ per­for­mances. If a player as impor­tant as Manuel Neuer was sold, it’d be near impos­si­ble to replace him. He’s Schalke through and through, and when he starts to doubt the side he’s sup­ported and played for for so long, that’s when you know there’s really some­thing wrong behind the scenes.
A lack of funds and no Euro­pean foot­ball could see Schalke lose a lot more than Manuel Neuer, and that is the grim real­ity for konigs­blauen fans who may have been hop­ing for another title chal­lenge this season.

This is the link of where the article originally came from:-
http://www.bundesligatalk.com/felix-magath-admits-defeat-in-manuel-neuer-contract-battle/2074