After being sidelined by Nagelsmann at the national scene, Goretzka has now earned himself another shot.
The Bayern Munich midfield duo of Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka have had a long journey together in club and country level football. Lately, however, Goretzka has slid down the pecking order for the German national team. Joshua Kimmich, the German captain now believes that Goretzka is ready once again to play in the national side.
While Kimmich himself plays at right-back and not at midfield for Germany, he took up the matter of Goretzka post the 0-2 win against Bayern Leverkusen in the Champions League. In an interview with Sky Germany( as captured by @iMiaSanMia) Kimmich said: “The best players will hopefully always be called up. He’s currently one of the best,” making a strong case for Bayern’s Adonis return to German colors.
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Under Julian Nagelsmann, Goretzka’s international appearances have severely dried up. The last appearance in the national team for the Leon was in the 2023 friendlies. Unimpressed with the test run, Leon was dropped by Nagelsmann for the EUROs held in 2024, where Toni Kroos, Robert Andrich and Emre Can were the frontrunners in the central midfield. In the recent past, Pascal Groß, Andrich, Angelo Stiller, and Aleksandar Pavlović have been favored over Goretzka to man the central midfield for Die Mannschaft.
Kimmich’s recommendation comes after a current improvement in Goretzka’s performances. Comparison from last played international tournaments do not do any favors for Goretzka. He is outshone by the current German midfield stock who had a good EUROs campaign.
However, at the club level from the present, the Bayern man is at par or better in several attributes. Important stats for box-to-box midfielders such as pass success, duels contested and won, ball recoveries etc. strongly advocate for another opportunity for Goretzka in the national team. With a recommendation from the captain himself, the opportunity could be as near as the upcoming Nations League games in March.
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Germany will take on Italy in the quarterfinals of the Nations League. It will be a two legged fixture with the first to take place on March 20 in the San Siro, Milan. The second leg will take place on March 23 at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund. Follow us for all the live updates and match coverage. Thank you for reading and your support.
