Is “very grateful” Nagelsmann
© Imago
Goal hiker Niclas Füllkrug is national coach Julian Nagelsmann “very grateful” that after a “very difficult” premiere season in England, he nominated him for the final tournament of the Nations League. Despite the best hit rate among the DFB attackers, the 32-year-old attacker from West Ham United does not automatically assume a starting eleven in the semi-finals against Portugal.
“You have to assess the situation realistically,” said Füllkrug four days before the game in Munich: “The national coach certainly didn’t invite me because I played the best season of my career, but rather because I always worked well here.” The DFB team is well-occupied and has a wide range of qualities. “And my qualities are certainly used at a certain point in time,” he said.
Füllkrug has a good goal rate in the national team
Fill mug comes on 14 goals in 22 international matches. Most recently, he played and scored for the national team in the 5-0 against Hungary in the start of the group phase of the Nations League last September. After a protracted Achilles tendon irritation and a later thigh injury, he had in the last weeks of the season “again a certain fitness in the Premier League to play 90 minutes. And I have a few qualities that every team is good at.”
Füllkrug’s return is also due to the offensive failures of Jamal Musiala (22), Kai Havertz (25) and in particular Gladbacher Tim Kleindienst (29), who has similar strengths as filling jugs. The first competitor of Füllkrug in the storm center is currently likely to be newcomer Nick Woltemade (23) from VfB Stuttgart. He knows the 23-year-old from the time together at Werder Bremen and called him “a good friend” at the press conference in Herzogenaurach. In the training of the DFB team, however, they are currently competitors.
DFB team: Fill mug is supposed to bring in another element
DFB sports director Rudi Völler trusts Youngster Woltemade “a big career”: “He has developed enormously in recent months.” Nagelsmann has a few more days to take a close look at the training ground – at Woltemade, at Füllkrug and the other attackers. “With West Ham, Fühl didn’t have the mega rhythm, he didn’t score so many goals either,” said the national coach. But Füllkrug brings with it, which also distinguishes the most recent and now injured small service at the knee.
“Especially after Tim’s failure, we need a header in the squad who brings another element in than many midfielder behind it or other strikers,” Nagelsmann noted. And in the head game game, the 1.89 meter veteran filler is still quite far ahead of the youngster Woltemade, which is still nine centimeters longer. Likewise in terms of routine. “With abundance, we all know what we get, on and off the square,” said Nagelsmann about the team of the team. “He is always important for the group, he always has a good atmosphere.”