National coach Julian Nagelsmann will only officially announce his squad for the European Championship endurance tests against France (March 23, 9 p.m.) and the Netherlands (March 26, 8:45 p.m.) on Thursday. On Tuesday, however, some surprising decisions that the 36-year-old will make leaked out. FC Bayern has now confirmed one of them.
Sports director Christoph Freund from FC Bayern indirectly confirmed on Tuesday evening that midfielder Leon Goretzka will not be nominated for the German national soccer team’s upcoming games in France (March 23) and against the Netherlands (March 26). Instead, Munich youngster Aleksandar Pavlovic slips into the squad.
“Aleks has developed incredibly well. He plays extremely consistently and with a high level of self-confidence – even in international games where there is a lot of pressure. This is an award for us and we are of course pleased,” said Freund when asked by “Sky”.
Goretzka’s removal, however, was “a shame because Leon has done really well recently and is an absolute leader for us.”
Goretzka is turning up the heat at FC Bayern
The 19-year-old Pavlovic is one of the surprises of the season and has recently earned a regular place at FC Bayern. However, Goretzka is also currently playing for the German record champions. In the last two months in particular, the 29-year-old has been one of the club’s top performers: since the turn of the year, he has prepared seven goals in the league and scored twice himself.
The fact that the DFB is putting a lot of pressure on Pavlovic is certainly not least due to the fact that the Munich native is also eligible to play for the Serbian association. The Serbs have already confirmed that an exchange has taken place. By the way: If he were to play in the test matches, the midfielder would not yet have been confirmed for the DFB team.
The squad for the start of the European Championship year will be officially announced on Thursday. The players are usually informed in advance whether they will be there. Nagelsmann recently emphasized that he did not want to shy away from unpopular measures with a view to the home tournament. “One or two people who many people think will definitely be there will definitely not be nominated,” explained the national coach.