Who Is New Bayern Munich Goalkeeper Daniel Peretz?

Bayern Munich finally has found a solution to strengthen the club’s goalkeeper position. After lengthy negotiations with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bayern has found an agreement to sign 23-year-old Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz. According to Fabrizio Romano, Bayern Munich will pay an initial €5 million ($5.5 million) plus €2 million in add-ons ($2.2 million) for the Israeli, who also has a German passport.

The initial transfer fee is just above his €4 million ($4.4 million) Transfermarkt market value. Once add-ons are included, Peretz could become the second most expensive departure in Maccabi’s history. In fact, Peretz would be just ahead of another goalkeeper: Pedrag Rajkovic.

For Bayern Munich, the transfer, once complete, will end a several-month-long search for a new goalkeeper. In fact, Bayern already had secured a new goalkeeper when they reached an agreement with Chelsea to sign Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan. But then Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois tore his ACL, and Kepa opted to join the Spaniards instead.

With Kepa off the table, Bayern was either left with signing another expensive goalkeeper who could be seen as a potential no.1 or hope that Manuel Neuer would fully recover from his broken leg. Neuer has increased his training load in recent days, and there is a sense of optimism within the Bayern organization that the 37-year-old could make a full recovery and return to competitive fixtures as early as September.

Whether Neuer will be fully match-fit and regain his pre-injury form remains to be seen. But for now, Bayern has opted not to sign a potential competitor and instead went with an outside-the-box signing in Daniel Peretz.

In fact, signing Peretz feels like a signing directed by future director of sport Christoph Freund. The Austrian will not officially join from Red Bull Salzburg until the transfer window has closed on Sep. 1. But the Peretz signing very much feels like a Red Bull transfer rather than a typical Bayern signing and could, therefore, be a sign of things to come in the Bavarian capital.

Another factor in the signing could have been new Bayern Munich goalkeeper coach Michael Rechner. Rechner was signed last season from Hoffenheim to replace Neuer’s long-standing goalkeeper coach, Toni Tapalovic.

As the club ramped up the goalkeeper search, Rechner has been part of Bayern’s transfer committee over the last couple of weeks. Similar to Freund at Salzburg, Rechner’s former club, Hoffenheim, has a strong track record for scouting and finding players in non-traditional football markets.

Perhaps one day, there will be a book written on Bayern’s unusual transfer window. Such a book will certainly include a chapter on the goalkeeper search, and it would be interesting to find out how exactly Bayern came up with the idea of signing Peretz from Maccabi.

One thing is for certain: Peretz will now join after he has played one final game with Maccabi—in the Europa Conference League against Celje on Thursday. Barring an injury or any other unforeseen circumstance, Peretz will then travel to Munich to complete his medical and sign a contract until 2028.

But will Peretz play or simply back up Sven Ulreich for now? Could there even be a chance that Peretz could become the new long-term starter at Bayern? There are certainly some encouraging stats regarding Peretz available on Wyscout.

With the caveat that the Israeli has played in a far weaker league than the Bundesliga, Peretz has a higher save rate (76.15%) than Neuer (70.59%) and Ulreich (68.97%) over the last calendar year. Peretz also ranks just behind Neuer (0.163) with 0.142 prevented goals per 90 minutes and is significantly ahead of Ulreich (0.01 per 90 minutes). When it comes to prevented goals overall, Peretz (6.94) is also ahead of Neuer (2.63) and Ulreich (0.11).

Those are the positive notes. What, however, stands out negatively is Peretz’s long pass accuracy, which comes in at just 52.7% and is significantly behind Neuer (68.52%) and Ulreich (61.73%). That number will be concerning for Bayern fans accustomed to having a goalkeeper who can play with great accuracy out of the back.

The buildup play, without a doubt, will be the main focus of Bayern’s coaching staff once Peretz has officially joined. Indeed, that adaptation to Bayern’s backline might determine whether Peretz will be just a backup for Ulreich or perhaps even a long-term challenger for Neuer’s status.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth and on Threads: @manuveth