No consideration of new return
© Imago
Joshua Kimmich will return to midfield in the German national team for the World Cup next year. The captain of the DFB-Elf is to play again in the central defensive midfield in the World Cup season and in the final round 2026 in the USA, Mexico and Canada. This was announced by national coach Julian Nagelsmann at the international coaching congress in Leipzig.
“Standing now he returns to the six because he is simply one of two or three players who will always play in his club,” said the 38-year-old. Because of the brevity of the time up to the World Cup, they couldn’t “gambles” – that is, gamble. “We have to see that we have players who are in the rhythm in this position,” said Nagelsmann.
So far, the national coach had actually put on the right defense on Kimmich for lack of alternatives. However, it was not carved in stone, but he had previously emphasized. “In general, on the six in my eyes in Germany, we have much less problems than the back on the right. There is no better right -back than Joshua Kimmich in Germany,” was the reason to date.
Nagelsmann in Leipzig described the central couple on the six position as “the heart of every team”. And this should be found early. “We have now imagined how it works.” If the now intended right-back candidates “fail across the board”, it could be different. The most valuable German right -back is Leipzig’s Benjamin Henrichs with a market value of 15 million euros, but it still has to fight back after a Achilles tendon tear.
Nagelsmann also made it clear that he wants to make tactical adjustments and align the defensive more. Even in the “big years, there were not always ten noble technicians on the field,” he said, spoke out for a bit of “old -fashioned thinking”. It is about playing a well -groomed ball through a good defensive stability and not the other way around.
The next international matches stand for Nagelsmann and his team in September. In the World Cup qualification, September 4 in Bratislava against Slovakia, three days later there is a game against Northern Ireland in Cologne.
Nagelsmann relies on ter Stegen in the goal – when he plays in the club
Nagelsmann also commented on the goalkeeper situation. He continues to rely on Marc-André Ter Stegen as number one at the World Cup-but under conditions. The national coach made it clear that FC Barcelona’s keeper, which has been decreasing longer due to back operation, must also become a regular.
“In the end he is our number one when he is healthy and the number one in the club,” said Nagelsmann. There are “stood” not considering a possible return of Manuel Neuer from FC Bayern. With Ter Stegen, who has recently resigned after the home European Championships last year and should go to the World Cup in the coming year as such, he is in a “great exchange”, emphasized Nagelsmann. It was totally bitter for the 33-year-old.
Ter Stegen had to undergo back surgery again and will fail for several months. After a serious knee injury last season, he had been missing for a long time and had been represented by Oliver Baumann and Alexander Nübel at the DFB. At Barcelona, the native of Mönchengladbacher is to be preferred to newcomer Joan García and veteran Wojciech Szczesny. Until his operation, it was said that Ter Stegen should leave the club this summer.
Meanwhile, Nagelsmann assumes that Ter Stegen will be healthy again and also the number one. “If it is not the case, there are many good ideas, many good solutions.” Nagelsmann did not go into detail.
Nagelsmann’s piquant review: Leave Leipzig “Tick too early”
But not only the DFB was the topic, but also his previous stations as a trainer. Nagelsmann referred to the early departure from RB Leipzig to FC Bayern afterwards as a “tick too early”. “I think I could have achieved a lot with the club,” said the 38-year-old.
Nagelsmann had left RB in the summer of 2021 after two years. According to reports, Bayern had paid a transfer fee of 25 million euros at the time, with which Nagelsmann still holds the record as the most expensive change of coach in the Bundesliga. The record champions from Munich separated from Nagelsmann early again in March 2023, and the following September he became coach of the German national team.