Bayern Munich are not desperate to sign Manuel Neuer and will happily wait until he becomes a free agent in 2012 if Schalke do not drop their asking price, according to Bayern's director of sport Christian Nerlinger.
Neuer recently announced he will not be extending his contract in Gelsenkirchen beyond next year and Bayern have already declared their interest in the Germany international.
However, Schalke are not willing to let him go on the cheap and are reported to have put a €25 million price tag on the coveted goalkeeper, but Nerlinger insists Bayern will not be put under pressure to pay an inflated sum for his services, especially since he will be free next year.
"Every player has his price, but Bayern have always been renowned for not letting ourselves be put under any pressure," Nerlinger told the Tz newspaper. "A healthy economic attitude is part of our concept, and that is not going to change with the transfer of Manuel Neuer."
We have a stable solution, with or without Manuel Neuer.
Christian Nerlinger, Bayern Munich's director of sport
The Bavarians have just extended the contract of their current number one Hans-Jorg Butt by a year and Nerlinger has enough faith in him remaining in goal next season, should the Neuer deal not go through.
"We have a stable solution, with or without Manuel Neuer," he said. "We would have no qualms at all about going into the season with Jorg Butt as our number one."
Schalke would be equally happy to go into the new season with Neuer still between their posts, especially after their run to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League swelled the coffers enough to make any sale of the 25-year-old less financially essential.
However, their director of sport Horst Heldt does not want the issue to drag on until the end of the transfer window, as Bayern's chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge recently hinted at.
"We want this issue off the table by the start of our pre-season training," he told Kicker magazine. "We are certainly not going to be dealing with it until 31 August. Everybody involved needs to know what their plans are and we want a clear resolution. That means that as soon as a decision has been taken, it will be stuck to."