Germany to start Euro 2024 preparations without keeper Neuer

The Germany national team will start their preparations for the Euro 2024 on home soil without Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

The player couldn't meet the rest of the squad on Sunday in Blankenhain, in the central German state of Thuringia as planned due to a gastrointestinal infection.

According to the German Football Federation (DFB), Neuer will travel to Blankenhain as soon as possible. For now, coach Julian Nagelsmann still plans to have Neuer in the starting line-up against Ukraine on June 3.

The goalkeeper hasn't played for the national team since the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He suffered a leg fracture while on holidays after the tournament and was sidelined for almost a year.

Neuer was expected to make his comeback in March in friendly matches against France and Netherlands but he had to leave the squad after suffering an injury during training.

Barcelona keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen started between the posts in both games.

Nagelsmann will initially be without Borussia Dortmund players Niclas Füllkrug and Nico Schlotterbeck as well as the Real Madrid duo of Toni Kroos and Antonio Rüdiger.

Dortmund and Madrid will face each other in the Champions League final on June 1 and the players involved in the game won't take part in the training camp in Blankenhain.

Bayer Leverkusen players Florian Wirtz, Jonathan Tah and Robert Andrich, meanwhile, will arrive a bit later after defeating Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final on Saturday and celebrating their fantastic season, which also included the Bundesliga title, on Sunday.

Ter Stegen and Ilkay Gündogan also will be absent from the public training session on Monday as both play the final La Liga match of the season on Sunday.

On May 31, the Germany squad will move to their Euro 2024 headquarters in Herzogenaurach in Bavaria.

Ahead of their opening game in the home tournament against Scotland on June 14, Germany also play a friendly against Greece on June 7.

Nagelsmann named 27 players to his provisional squad. The final squad has to be submitted to European football ruling body UEFA by June 7 and can have no more than 26 players.