Rudi Völler on Bernd Leno rejecting a national team call-up: “The only thing that Leno didn’t quite understand is that he had already given him a perspective” 

Speaking on Welt TV (via Bild), Germany sporting director Rudi Völler has also responded to goalkeeper Bernd Leno over rejecting a national team call up.

The Fulham keeper rejected a call-up to the national team as he was told that he would only be third choice keeper in the international break. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann had responded to the keeper’s decision ahead of their 2-1 win against Bosnia stating that he had tried to give the keeper a different perspective but was unable to convince him.

Now Völler has reiterated this claim:

“The only thing that Leno didn’t quite understand is that he (Nagelsmann, editor’s note) had already given him a perspective ,maybe not for these two international matches. He made it clear to him that he would not be playing. But in the medium term, yes. I know that from Julian when I spoke to him. With the loss of Marc-Andre ter-Stegen, who will probably be out for the whole year, I think he would have had his chance. He tried to explain that to him.”

Bild reports that Leno wanted guaranteed playing time in the November international break,  but Nagelsmann was unable to offer him this. What is clear that the Fulham keeper is behind VfB Stuttgart’s Alexander Nübel, who made his debut on Friday against Bosnia and Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann who will make his debut tonight against the Netherlands. 

In Leno’s place, Red Bull Salzburg’s Janis Blaswich was called up as the third-choice keeper instead. The on-loan RB Leipzig keeper was previously used in this role in November of last year. 

GGFN | Jack Meenan