Nagelsmann on Urbig's first Germany call-up: "He has great potential"

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann has handed first call-ups to two players for his March squad, namely Bayern Munich’s Jonas Urbig and Lennart Karl.

Urbig, Bayern’s second-choice goalkeeper behind Manuel Neuer, has been included as Germany's third-choice goalkeeper behind Hoffenheim's Oliver Baumann and Stuttgart's Alexander Nübel.

Meanwhile, Augsburg’s Finn Dahmen and Freiburg’s Noah Atubolu were left out after previous call-ups.

Explaining why he opted to bring in Urbig ahead of the other two goalkeepers, Nagelsmann said:

“It is not a decision against the other two. We chose Jonas because he has played 25 matches (since joining FC Bayern in the summer of 2024, editor’s note), which is exceptional for a second-choice goalkeeper at such a big club.

“For his age, he has shown extremely strong psychological stability. He came into many matches and immediately performed. He has played in the Champions League. And if, as a goalkeeper, you have to save ten shots in every game, you already get into a good rhythm quite often. In his case, it has often been that he came on in a situation of total dominance and had one or two ‘cold-start’ actions that he handled extremely well.

“He is a very, very good footballer. Of course, he has a great connection with many players. He knows many from the youth national teams, he knows this large Bayern group, which brings a lot of value for us because they simply have a good connection with each other,” Nagelsmann said.

The Germany coach added that he believes Urbig has a bright future ahead of him.

“In my view, he has great potential in German football if everything continues like this. We just want to see him now; we want to have him with us and see how he integrates with us. At Bayern, I know from conversations with the coach that he already plays a very, very important role in the Bayern team at such a young age. And he can now show and prove that with us as well.”