Füllkrug’s return to Werder Bremen was framed as a last chance to rebuild a career that collapsed abroad. Seven games into the Bundesliga season, he has seven goals and shares the division’s top-scorer spot with Patrik Schick.

Speaking on DAZN during Bayern Munich’s Champions League meeting with Arsenal on Wednesday evening, Klopp was asked repeatedly whether that run earns the 33-year-old a recall to Germany.

“Niclas Füllkrug is scoring one goal after another in the Bundesliga, but he is 33. That is not my fault,” Klopp told the broadcaster.

Asked whether age meant Füllkrug no longer fit the squad, Klopp said: “We have a present, a medium-term future and a long-term future. In the present it can certainly work, in the medium term possibly as well.”

Read also: Scotland to the Pyrenees: The 2027 Tour de France route that gives Pogacar nowhere to hide

Messi at 39 or 40 as the reference point

Klopp pointed to Lionel Messi, saying the Argentine “played a World Cup at 39 or 40.” He added that Füllkrug himself looks “fresher than ever.”

The road back from West Ham and Milan

Füllkrug’s revival is set against the collapse that preceded it. Transferred to West Ham from Borussia Dortmund, he was limited by muscle and Achilles problems. A subsequent spell at AC Milan did not fix the trend, and he was left out of the squad that went to the 2026 World Cup.

He has not played for Germany since the 2024-25 campaign.

Matthäus wants him back

Lothar Matthäus has publicly pushed Klopp to call Füllkrug back. The 1990 World Cup captain argued that no other German center-forward is making a comparable case, writing off Kai Havertz as a false nine and noting that Tim Kleindienst and Nick Woltemade are either injured or out of form.

Read also: Jose Mourinho hits out at El Clasico schedule as Barcelona handed extra advantage Kopiér rubrik

“The only one making a case with goals is Niclas Füllkrug,” Matthäus said on 19 October, after a Füllkrug brace against SC Paderborn and a late winner against Borussia Dortmund.

5 November is the deadline

Klopp names his squad on 5 November for November internationals against Serbia on 13 November and the Netherlands on 16 November. Füllkrug plays Mainz 05 away on Saturday, 24 October, with another chance to add to his tally before the list is finalized.

Read also: ‘He’s never been in this situation’: Djokovic returns to Basel after 15 years