Niklas Dorsch withdraws from Germany Olympic squad
FC Augsburg announced the signing of Germany U21 European Championship winner Niklas Dorsch from KAA Gent yesterday, and today the player himself has said he has voluntarily withdrawn from the Germany setup for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Dorsch has decided to travel to Augsburg's training camp in Walchsee to meet up with his new teammates and prepare for the new season.
Therefore he has made the voluntary decision to miss the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Speaking to the official club website, Dorsch explained his decision: "I was in a dilemma because of my transfer. On the one hand, you naturally want to take the unique opportunity of participating in the Olympics. On the other hand, of course, I also want to settle in at FCA as quickly as possible, get to know the team and get to grips with the football here. FCA have shown a lot of trust in me by giving me a five-year contract, and I would like to repay that straight away. To do this, I need to prepare together with the team in order to be best prepared for the start of the season."
Augsburg's sporting director Stefan Reuter was the one who informed the DFB and Germany's Olympic football head coach Stefan Kuntz (Germany U21 championship-winning coach) of the decision made by Dorsch: “In Marco Richter and Felix Uduokhai, two of our players have been allowed to take part in the Olympics and we’re very happy to support the national team. However, Niklas Dorsch’s situation is a special case, because he’s just joined the team and needs to get to know his teammates and the processes here. Pre-season with the team is of enormous importance when it comes to that.”
Dorsch joined Augsburg from Belgian side KAA Gent for a fee of €7m plus up to €1m in bonuses.