Julian Nagelsmann calls for squad unity ahead of EURO 2024 : “In the end, the tournament outshines everything, everyone has the same goal, no matter how their season went.”
Speaking at his first press conference during Germany’s training camp ahead of Euro 2024, Julian Nagelsmann gave an update on player availability and the prospect of other call-ups (via @iMiaSanMia).
First, the Bundestrainer gave an update on when his squad will be complete with other players yet to join up: “The Leverkusen players and Ilkay Gündogan will join us on Wednesday and start training on Thursday. Marc-André ter Stegen will join on Monday. The CL finalists will join on Tuesday next week. We have spoken to all four of them. It’s important that all of them are injury-free. From Tuesday onwards we will have a full squad”
Nagelsmann also provided an update on personnel missing through injury. First-choice goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is currently out due to an infection. On the 38-year-old, Nagelsmann said: “Nothing dramatic. Just a mild gastrointestinal infection. He won’t be here before Wednesday, I expect him to join on Thursday. If he’s healthy, he will be #1”. Other missing players are David Raum, Aleksander Pavlovic, Jamal Musiala and Leroy Sané: “Raum, Leroy, Pavlo and Jamal won’t train at 100% this week. We’ll try to integrate them partially Wednesday or Thursday. We have to be careful not to go from 0 to 100. They’ll take it easy now and hopefully be involved in full training on Friday”
The former Bayern manager was also asked about potential late call-ups in the case of injuries such as with Brajan Gruda and Rocco Reitz who are set to train with the team this week due to absences: “Gruda is extremely creative in the final third, a very fine footballer. I’m very excited to see him in training. I hope he has the necessary self-confidence with us. Reitz has had a very good season, is very hard-working. He tries to initiate a lot of attacks. They’re here just for training for now, but there’s also a chance, something can always happen. It’s a sign for them that they were called up for training” Nagelsmann repeated this sentiment when asked about Leon Goretzka, one of the most notable absentees: “Nothing is completely ruled out for any player. Of course, we would like to have the squad that we nominated in the tournament. I don’t want to give anyone false hopes. We hope nobody gets injured. But nothing is ruled out”
Finally, Nagelsmann also called for everyone to be focused on the tournament regardless of how their season went: “In the end, the tournament outshines everything, everyone has the same goal, no matter how their season went. I demand everyone to give everything in training, but at the beginning, it will be a bit more relaxed. There’s no need for many discussions. Everyone will be fully focused. The Euros is the start of the new season, everyone is really looking forward to it. Everyone is excited. When you lose a CL final, it hurts, but you can quickly refocus to have a great tournament.”
Germany will hold a training camp in Thuringia this week before moving to the Adidas Campus in Herzogenaurach next week which will be their headquarters for the tournament. Germany’s first preparation game will be against Ukraine in Nürnberg on June 3rd before playing Greece in Mönchengladbach a week before they kick off the tournament against Scotland in Munich.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
