RB professional celebrated debut in 2021
David Raum’s market value quintupled within about a year from 5 to 26 million euros. The 24-year-old left-back left Greuther Fürth for TSG Hoffenheim on a free transfer in the summer of 2021, only to switch to RB Leipzig just one season later for a transfer at his current market value level. Raum made his debut for the German national team on September 5, 2021 in a 6-0 win over Armenia in the World Cup qualifier – the Nuremberg native revealed in the “11Freunde” interview how Raum experienced his first nomination.
“That was a funny story. I was in the changing room at the Hoffenheim training center and wanted to go to the weights room. Then the cell phone rang, an unknown number. I pushed the call away. A little later it rang again. I thought, okay, it must be some supplier or craftsman, because we just moved into our Sinsheim apartment at the time,” said Raum.
7 out of 7 are U21 European champions: All DFB debutants under Hansi Flick
The eleven-time DFB kicker explained: “When I pushed the call away again, a text message popped up shortly afterwards: ‘Hello David, this is Hansi Flick, please call me back.’ I just thought: What have you just done? Did you push away the national coach? So I left the dressing room quickly because cell phones are not so popular there anyway and the network is very bad. In the process, umpteen things shot through my head.”
David Raum was flabbergasted after the first call from national coach Flick
Raum gave an insight into his chaotic emotional world at the time: “What does Hansi Flick even want? Did he tell you now that he found your performance in the last league game quite passable? Or does he really already invite you to a game? And why does he know me? He then told me that he had been watching me for a long time, back in Fürth, and that he would like to see me in the national team. I was flabbergasted.”
Until his departure, Raum had played 99 competitive games for the “Kleeblatt”, his youth club, and had provided six goals and 24 assists. At TSG there were 16 goals in 35 appearances. For his new club RB Leipzig, the professional has only had one assist (no goal) in 15 matches so far. “I also read that I am now the big hope on the left. I’m happy about that, but I don’t want to think about it too much either. It would only create unnecessary pressure,” said Raum.
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