Former Bayern Munich midfielder Mario Basler has rather bizarrely compared Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer to Lionel Messi.

Neuer is of the most highly-rated custodians in Europe and has been continually linked with a move to Bayern Munich and Manchester United, amongst a host of other big names.
He has elicited praise and flattering comparison from all quarters, but the latest one is the strangest yet.
Speaking to Bild, Basler, who represented Bayern for three years, said: ""Neuer can be compared to Barcelona star Messi. The only difference is that Manuel is wearing gloves.
""He fully deserves to be Germany's number one and Bayern Munich should really buy him, no matter what the price is.""
Neuer made an appearance at the Allianz Arena - but in Schalke colors - when the two sides met in the German DFB-Pokal semi-final and was inexplicably booed by the Bayern fans. Basler was less than impressed.
""I really don't like what the Bayern fans did. Some of them have clearly lost it in my opinion. They are protesting against the signing of the best goalkeeper of the world. What's up next? A protest against Arjen Robben? A demonstration against the club colors?""
However, Basler is confident the German giants will ultimately sign Neuer.
""And I'm confident that that's what Bayern will do. They apologized to Neuer after the game because they want to sign him. We all know what will happen if Bayern sign Neuer. The fans will act upset until they notice that he's a world-class goalie.""
Basler also aimed a barb at defender Breno, saying: ""He
[Neuer] might still like Schalke, but I'm sure that he'll give 100 per cent for Bayern. That's still 98.4 per cent more than Breno.""
With Bayern, United and perhaps even Arsenal going after the keeper, it promises to be an interesting summer.
(Source: ESPNstar)