Jürgen Klopp took the Germany job in July, and the most visible part of the run-up to his first international break has been a tour of Bundesliga training grounds. Bayern Munich, VfB Stuttgart, FC Augsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt and Mainz 05 have all had him in the building.
The stop that has drawn most attention was Frankfurt. Sky Sport Germany reported that Klopp had a lengthy conversation with 22-year-old striker Younes Ebnoutalib, the Elversberg import who opened his Bundesliga season with a hat-trick against Union Berlin and has since added a DFB-Pokal goal. Ebnoutalib is German-Moroccan and has been capped by Morocco at under-15 level. Klopp, according to the same report, personally pitched him a Germany future.
That is what Germany’s centre-forward problem looks like right now: a new head coach doing recruitment work in person, weeks after the country crashed out of the World Cup at the round of 32 and Julian Nagelsmann resigned.
Havertz was the default nine
At the World Cup, the lone-striker slot in Nagelsmann’s 4-2-3-1 went to Kai Havertz, a player bundesliga.com described as usable as a false nine but not natural in the position. Deniz Undav was the alternative Nagelsmann kept for the bench.
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Klopp inherits both the personnel and the argument about them. At his unveiling on 24 July at the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt, he flatly called the state of the national team “not good” and warned against unrealistic comparisons.
“If we ask ourselves if we’re as good as France, then the answer is no. But we can still beat them.”
He also set out a selection principle that does not protect anyone by seniority.
“The people who play will be the ones who are very good, are really up for it and who get a bit better the moment they pull on the shirt.”
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El Mala already earmarked
Ebnoutalib is not the only new name being pushed towards a debut. Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg reported at the end of August that Klopp intends to call up Köln’s 20-year-old winger Said El Mala for the September and October Nations League fixtures, and that the head coach “sees a lot of potential” in him. El Mala has gone through Germany’s U18, U19 and U21 teams but has yet to earn a senior cap.
Klopp is sifting these options with an imported staff. His assistants at the DFB are former Liverpool colleagues Peter Krawietz and Pepijn Lijnders, plus former Germany international Sven Bender.
Klopp opens against the Dutch
The squad is due on 17 September, and the debut match is the hardest of the block. Germany travel to the Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam on Thursday 24 September for the opening 2026/27 UEFA Nations League fixture against the Netherlands, kick-off 8:45pm local time. Greece in Augsburg on 27 September, Serbia in Munich on 1 October and the return against Greece on 4 October complete the international block.
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