Bundesliga News

Germany boss Oliver Bierhoff sounds the alarm over decline in talent

By Rune Gjerulff   @runegjerulff

Germany general manager Oliver Bierhoff has sounded the alarm over the German youth development.
Oliver Bierhoff.
Oliver Bierhoff.Photo: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0
Germany are running short of quality players, according to DFB general manager Oliver Bierhoff.


In a recent interivew with Sport Bild, Bierhoff warned that the country's young players must be given more freedom so that they can develop their individual qualities.

"We hardly have any penalty-box strikers anymore. We also have problems with the full-backs and even the goalkeepers," Bierhoff complained and added:

"The feedback from our youth coaches is that they used to be able to identify five or six boys per year group, who could definitely become Bundesliga players or even German internationals. Unfortunately, that's not the case at the moment. We still have exceptional young players like Florian Wirtz or Youssoufa Moukoko. Many others have developed well, but very conformably. The individuality, the creativity, has fallen by the wayside.

"We have to give our players more freedom and individuality in order to help them developed their personal strengths," underlined the Germany boss.

Germany under-21 coach Stefan Kuntz has previously expressed concern about the lack of top talent players available to him.


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