Julian Nagelsmann: National coach dares to radically restructure the national team

analysis

Julian Nagelsmann’s contract with the DFB expires in four months. He may then have been the national coach with the shortest term in office in the history of the association. Nagelsmann, 36, only took over the job from Hansi Flick at the end of September 2023 and both parties, the DFB and his young coach, agreed that they wanted to concentrate on the European Championship first. It will take place in Germany and should be a second summer fairy tale – that’s what the association wants. Only after the tournament did the association want to discuss with Nagelsmann whether there could be a future together. That was the plan.

Nothing will come of this plan. Nagelsmann said on Tuesday in Frankfurt that he would like to take care of his professional future early on. He currently has “no piece of paper” in front of him, i.e. no offer from a club or association, but if there is anything interesting, he would deal with it immediately. So it’s quite possible that Nagelsmann will sign a so-called piece of paper before the European Championship kicks off and then lead the national team through the tournament as the future ex-coach.

Everything is open, and that makes Nagelsmann courageous, even bold, like the nomination of the squad for the two test matches against France (Saturday, March 23rd, 9 p.m., ZDF) and the Netherlands (Tuesday, March 26th, 8:45 p.m Clock, RTL).

There are six newcomers in the national team squad

Nagelsmann has called up six newcomers, including three from Stuttgart, defenders Waldemar Anton and Maximilian Mittelstädt and striker Deniz Undav. They are players who have a flow, a momentum, as it is called in football jargon. Last season they were fighting against relegation with VfB, but now, completely unexpectedly, they are fighting for a starting place in the Champions League. Along with Leverkusen, Stuttgart is the team of the moment – Nagelsmann wants to use this flow.

He also found what he was looking for in the small Heidenheim. Jan-Niklas Beste, 25, who once failed in Dortmund and Bremen, will become the first German national player in the club’s history. It’s already a romantic story: a ragged whiskers stretches its way to the top. But is someone like Beste, who enjoys environmental protection in the eastern Württemberg province, also suitable for the big, brightly lit stage?

Nagelsmann will have to put up with questions like these if his radical restructuring does not lead to the hoped-for results at the European Championships. Because bringing in someone like Beste also means showing others the door. Leon Goretzka, Nico Schlotterbeck, Niklas Süle, Julian Brandt and Mats Hummels – they all fell victim to Nagelsmann’s renovation work. All well-known names, each with merit for the DFB.

This is what distinguishes Julian Nagelsmann from Löw and Flick

Nagelsmann, however, only feels committed to the moment. He is building a team just for the European Championships. He doesn’t think broadly like his predecessors Flick or Löw, who always wondered what the team might look like in one or two years. Nagelsmann’s nominations are an apotheosis of the moment. There are no loyalties, no yesterday, no day after tomorrow. Only the European Championships.

The national coach may have good arguments for each individual personnel decision, but the overall picture is irritating. Major changes in football usually occur after the World or European Championships – and rarely shortly before. The conventional wisdom goes that it only brings disorder and unrest.

Nagelsmann will have little time to integrate all the new people. A few training sessions next week in Frankfurt, followed by the two international matches against France and the Netherlands – and then we won’t see each other again until May, for a course near Weimar.

At least Nagelsmann will find it easy to analyze his next opponent. While the national coach has brought things to a head in his own team, things remain calm in World Cup-era France. No newbies, no youngsters, nothing. National coach Didier Deschamps looked at his team and saw that they were good.