DFB team: Florian Wirtz is hoping for a comeback after 17 months

“Very fit” at Bayer appearances

After 17 months, Florian Wirtz is hoping for a comeback in the German national team and a nomination for the games at the end of March. “I haven’t been there for a long time. Of course, one of my goals is to be called. Especially because we also play in Cologne,” said the 19-year-old from Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Wednesday. On March 25, the DFB team meets Peru, three days later it’s against Belgium.

Wirtz suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in March 2022 and made his comeback in the Bundesliga in January. He completed the last of his four international matches in October 2021. With a market value of 70 million euros, the attacking midfielder is the third most valuable German professional along with Kai Havertz (23) and Leroy Sané (27).

According to his own statement, he feels “very fit” after the deployments of the last few weeks. The coach has always taken me out in the last few weeks or I came off the bench,” he explained: “That helped in the process of regaining my stability. With more and more minutes, we work towards my body being able to play every game again. But it’s important that we continue to be careful.”

For the Europa League, in which Leverkusen are expecting Hungarian champions Ferencvaros Budapest for the first leg of the round of 16 on Thursday (6.45 p.m.), Wirtz has “the goal in mind of making it to the final”. With a squad value of €416.4m, the Werkself are only behind Juventus Turin, Manchester United and Arsenal FC among the remaining round of 16 teams. In any case, qualifying for the European Cup is also important for 2023/24. “Every one of us wants to play internationally next year. That is our claim,” said Wirtz. In the Bundesliga, Leverkusen is currently only ninth.

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