Julian Nagelsmann explains notable omissions in Germany’s EUROs squad

Julian Nagelsmann has finally announced the preliminary squad of 27 players for Germany’s team in the upcoming 2024 EUROs. Some players whom many thought were sure bets for the team got left out, leaving most fans perplexed about the exclusion of those players. Leon Goretzka of Bayern Munich and Mats Hummels of Borussia Dortmund were the two big names who aren’t going.

“I had long conversations with both of them. They’re very disappointed, that’s understandable. I had problems with these conversations before as a club coach, it’s not nice. I didn’t like doing that. You would like to take everyone with you. In the end, as head coach, I have to make a decision in the interests of the team. They did everything to be there. I tried to explain why they weren’t included. It’s understandable that they are sad. They weren’t bad conversations, but of course there are more pleasant conversations in life,” Nagelsmann said (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).

Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images

The 36-year-old coach had a rather “emotional” talk with Goretzka and revealed that although the player was hurt with being left out, there was no bad blood between them and that Nags explained why he was not going.

“Of course, such conversations are always emotional. There are different characters who react differently. Some people don’t say anything on the phone, others want a precise explanation. It hurts me to announce such a decision, it hurts him, so it’s normal for emotions to arise, but there wasn’t bad blood from either side,” Nagelsmann said.

As for Hummels being left home at home, he was left out not purely because Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger was nailed-on starter, but because the veteran CB isn’t aligned with Nagelsmann’s idea of understudies to Rüdiger and Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen.

“Of course, you roughly decide on a first eleven, even if it isn’t set in stone. We have decided that Rüdiger and Tah will be our starting centre-backs. Then it’s about who are the most suitable players behind them? What do the substitutes have to bring? What’s the age structure in the tournament and what happens afterwards? Of course I can say that if Rüdiger wasn’t in the first eleven, the squad would look different. But the decision (against Hummels) wasn’t because Rüdiger is a starter,” Nagelsmann remarked.