Julian Nagelsmann’s refusal to rule out Manuel Neuer’s return for the World Cup has set the stage for one of the most divisive selection decisions in recent German football history. Appearing on the ZDF Sportstudio after the final Bundesliga matchday, the Bundestrainer repeatedly declined to name his first-choice goalkeeper, saying only that he had not yet spoken to the players concerned and that “every player who can help us is a topic”. The studied ambiguity, parsed in Munich and Hoffenheim alike, points to a dramatic reversal: Neuer, who retired from international duty after Euro 2024, may reclaim the number one jersey he vacated two years ago.

In Munich, the narrative is one of careful choreography. Neuer signed a one-year contract extension with Bayern on the eve of the title celebrations, a move the club framed as routine but which, viewed from the Bavarian capital, also kept open the door to a national-team comeback. The same afternoon, however, he limped off against Cologne with a calf strain, casting doubt on his fitness for next week’s DFB-Pokal final and, by extension, the start of the World Cup. Sky Germany and other international outlets, from CNN Brasil to Gulf News, have reported that Neuer is already on the preliminary 55-man squad submitted to FIFA, a claim neither the DFB nor Nagelsmann has denied. Analysts in London note that a coach who allows such speculation to fester seldom does so without a firm decision in mind.

The human cost of this indecision falls squarely on Oliver Baumann. The Hoffenheim goalkeeper guided Germany through a flawless qualifying campaign after Marc-André ter Stegen’s injury, yet the past week has been a study in public humiliation. A crushing 4-1 defeat to Gladbach denied Hoffenheim a Champions League place, and now Baumann, at 35, faces being demoted before a single World Cup match. Oliver Kahn, whose own demotion by Jürgen Klinsmann ahead of the 2006 World Cup became a seminal moment in German football, has remarked that the transition from “attacker” to “defender” of the number one spot is psychologically brutal. Nagelsmann’s silence, critics in the Frankfurter Allgemeine argue, risks being both bad form and a sporting gamble: Neuer is forty and only just returning from a calf injury, whereas Baumann has earned the shirt.

What appears to be unfolding is a high-stakes calculation about experience versus continuity. Neuer remains a leader of rare authority, and his presence would shore up a defence that has occasionally looked brittle. Yet the very things that make him an asset – his command of the box, his unflappable demeanour – were forged over years of trust that a rushed reintegration may undermine. The DFB has until Thursday to confirm its final squad, and Nagelsmann has promised to speak to the players first. Until then, the tension between the old and the new, between loyalty and ruthless pragmatism, will define the mood around the national camp. For Baumann, the wait is a personal ordeal; for Nagelsmann, it is a test of whether he can manage a transition without breaking the spirit of those he leaves behind.