Bundesliga News

Löw rules out calling up UK-based players, says he's "already planning" with Wirtz and Musiala

By Peter Weis   @PeterVicey

In an interview with RTL television, Bundestrainer Joachim Löw concretely ruled out the idea of flying Germany's EPL professionals directly in from the UK. 

When asked about the prospects of about promising young prospects Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, Löw responded "one could say that we're already planning with both of them."
Joachim Löw.
Joachim Löw.Photo: GEPA Pictures/Roger Petzsche
The latest incarnation of Germany's Nationalmannschaft will be confirmed on Friday. In his final set of World Cup qualifiers, national team head-coach Jogi Löw will choose the national XI for two matches in Duisburg (vs. Iceland on March 25th, vs. North Macedonia on March 31st) along with one fixture in Bucharest (vs. Romania on March 28th).


Current travel restrictions in the Bundesrepublik make giving all German national team players currently operating in the UK a call up problematic. A federally mandated 14-day-quarantine order which doesn't expire until the end of the month renders it impossible for Löw to bring in Timo Werner, Ilkay Gündogan, Kai Havertz, Bernd Leno, and Antonio Rüdiger for the fixtures to be held on German soil.

Flying some of them directly into Bucharest remained a possibility, or at least it did until Löw appeared to explicitly rule out the possibility in a recent interview on German television. Naturally, the exclusion of at least five actors one would have expected to get a nomination leaves extra room on the German roster for younger prospects.

Löw all but confirmed that two of them, 17-year-old Florian Wirtz and 18-year-old Jamal Musiala, would be joining the team for the coming set of fixtures. Asked about the prospects of both debutantes, the 60-year-trainer told his interviewer "one could say that we're already planning with both of them."


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