Patrick Osterhage’s rise as a footballer is finally blooming. After joining Borussia Dortmund at 17, the player’s development didn’t go as planned due to persistent hip injuries. Playing for BVB II, it was only when the midfielder joined VfL Bochum on a free transfer in 2021 that his career really started to progress. 67 appearances in three years, 60 of those came in the Bundesliga.
And a standout player in a team that battled relegation for the most part, Osterhage’s €4.8m move to Freiburg came this summer, and the 24-year-old is starting to make a name for himself.
With six appearances across all competitions already this season for his new club, Osterhage hasn’t ruled out playing for the German national team.
Speaking exclusively to kicker, when discussing latecomers to the national team such as Robert Andrich and Pascal Groß, Osterhage said: “It is definitely not out of the question and definitely not impossible. If you had asked Andrich and Groß when they were my age, they probably wouldn’t have said yes or no straight away. But it’s all about performance. You have to be successful with your team and do your part. We’ll see if it happens at some point. I would be incredibly happy if it did.”
Julian Nagelsmann ready to call up uncapped players
As reported last month, Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann is looking for new players to call up to the national team following the retirements of Toni Kroos, Ilkay Gündogan and Thomas Müller. We’ve already seen Aleksandar Pavlovic, Angelo Stiller and Deniz Undav awarded their first cap, and now Tim Kleindienst could be next.
The former Heidenheim forward, now 29, scored 12 and created five in 33 Bundesliga games last season, and now he already has three goal contributions (two goals, one assist) in five Bundesliga games for Borussia Mönchengladbach this season.
With Robert Andrich, Pascal Groß and now Kleindienst latecomers into the squad, there’s till time for players such as Osterhage.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
