Former national player Markus Babbel is also voting against Julian Nagelsmann, who was fired from FC Bayern in March, as the new national coach.
“He is a proven football expert, we don’t need to discuss that, a great coach. But I don’t know whether this is the right time for him,” said Babbel on “ran.de”. “At FC Bayern he wasn’t able to play with one or two national players as they would have liked there. And I think that the time in between is too short. For me that would come too early.”
He couldn’t imagine that Nagelsmann was “number one” for the DFB, said the 1996 European champion. “But it’s completely clear that FC Bayern is interested in him taking over the national team. He still has that Three or four year contract in Munich, no obstacles will be put in his way.
Recently, Stefan Effenberg, among others, was skeptical about Nagelsmann.
Babbel, on the other hand, described Rudi Völler, who coached the DFB team on an interim basis in the 2-1 win against France, as the “absolute ideal solution”. “But he said: ‘I’ll only do it for one game and then I’ll be out.'”
Babbel said he could also easily imagine Louis van Gaal or Felix Magath in the DFB selection. “They have some statesmanship and a lot of know-how.”
Does the national team need more “plain language”?
Magath “has experienced a lot as a player and as a coach” and knows “how a tournament works,” praised Babbel. “I always find it difficult how he is treated. You reduce him to fitness and physicality, but he has a lot more to offer. It’s a pleasure to talk to him about football. He also has a great and honest personality perspective on things.”
After Jogi Löw and Hansi Flick, Babbel advocated for a national coach “who doesn’t come from his own stable, but comes from outside and tells the boys clearly where to go.”
Van Gaal is also “a possibility that I would find very appealing,” said Babbel. “Someone has to get into the store again, someone has to speak plainly again.”