Guess who’s back on the training ground at Bayern Munich? (Hint: It’s not just Manuel Neuer)

Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer has reached the next stage of rehabbing his broken leg.

Neuer is now out on the training pitch and a familiar face greeted him — Germany assistant coach and former Bayern Munich staffer Hermann Gerland. Bild (as captured by @iMiaSanMia) snapped some pictures of Neuer and Gerland together having a chat at Säbener Straße:

This is a big step for Neuer, who seems like he has made great progress in his recovery. With the goal being ready to return to the squad this summer, Neuer seems like he is ahead of schedule and could meet that milestone to return to full, team training at that point.

Of course, Neuer’s return will likely expedite some decisions that will need to be made on the club’s goalkeeping situation. Yann Sommer and Alexander Nübel could both ultimately leave the club if Neuer is deemed in good enough shape to take over. That would leave the club with Sven Ulreich as the back-up and likely hunting for a goalkeeper of the future.

Bayern Munich has been linked with Leeds United goalkeeper Ilian Meslier.

In other news from the training ground, striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was also back and training individually — albeit with a heavily wrapped knee:

In addition, Dayot Upamecano resumed team training, which puts him on pace to play against Schalke 04 this weekend:

If you look a little closer at the tweet above, you will see that youth striker Grant Leon Ranos also worked with the professionals: