Germany boss confirms absentees after COVID-19 outbreak
At a press conference on Tuesday, Germany boss Oliver Bierhoff spoke on the COVID-19 outbreak that has hit the Germany squad.
Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff has confirmed reports that Niklas Süle, Joshua Kimmich, Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala and Karim Adeyemi will miss the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Armenia.
The five players have been forced to travel home after Süle tested positive for COVID-19. Despite testing negative, Kimmich, Gnabry and Musiala and Adeyemi have had to leave the camp as they have been classified as category 1 contacts.
"It had to be expected, we knew what was coming. We just have to accept it and will deal with it responsibly," Bierhoff told reporters.
"We still have a strong squad with top players and want to switch our focus now to the upcoming games so that we can have a successful end to the year."
It was further revealed that four other players are in quarantine at the team hotel at the moment.
"After detailed contact tracing of the positive player, four players have been quarantined. A further four are allowed to remain here separate from the team and will be tested again in the coming days," said team doctor Tim Meyer, who was sitting alongside Bierhoff at the press conference.
"I can't say which players have been vaccinated. These are things that are subject to legal confidentiality. Lack of vaccinations is a reason for quarantine, but the duration of contact is a criterion as well."
AS Monaco forward Kevin Volland and Wolfsburg duo Maximilian Arnold and Ridle Baku have been nominated to replace the five absentees.
Yesterday, Jonathan Tah was called up to replace Florian Wirtz, who is out injured. Germany will also be without Nico Schlotterbeck due to a muscle injury, meaning a total of seven players have withdrawn from the initial squad.