Julian Nagelsmann Chooses Kai Havertz as Center Forward: A New Role for the German National Team

The last training session on Thursday (March 21, 2024) spoke volumes. National coach Julian Nagelsmann (36) has found his candidate for the striker. At the press conference on Friday (March 22nd) he confirmed the impressions from training.

Kai Havertz (24) will storm against France on Saturday (March 23rd, 9 p.m./ZDF)! New national players Deniz Undav (27) and Niclas Füllkrug (31) have to sit on the bench first.

Kai Havertz with improving form and like Götze in 2014?

Havertz recently scored in four games in a row at Arsenal. The offensive all-rounder’s form curve is pointing strongly upwards. Nagelsmann registered that too.

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“Kai has developed very well at Arsenal,” emphasized Nagelsmann. “He has a very high level of recognition. I think incredibly highly of him as a person and as a player. He will start as a central striker, with a slightly different profile than the other players around him. We are happy that we can bring in Füllkrug with a slightly different profile as a hanging leader behind him,” said the national coach.

Füllkrug already stated at the press conference on Thursday (March 21st): “I think that my position is unchanged. There have been recent games in which I have come off the bench.”

Undav, a second trained striker, was also present at the press conference on Thursday. “Deniz and I, we are two goofballs and we bring a good atmosphere. I think it’s important that there is something like that in the team,” joked Füllkrug.

And further: “We harmonized quite well in training, I liked that.” But the storm duo will probably have to take a back seat for now.

A look at Havertz’s role at the DFB brings back memories of the 2014 World Cup victory. Under the then national coach Joachim Löw (64), Mario Götze (31) played exactly this role and shot Germany to their fourth star.

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Centre-forward debate: Not a real nine again?

Nagelsmann now seems to have exactly this idea. In 2014, the storm duo was still called Miroslav Klose (45) and Götze, who kept alternating in the tournament – now Havertz, Füllkrug and Undav should slip into this role.

In the past, the plan with Havertz as a striker went wrong. Before the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, a debate broke out in Germany about the vacant position of the striker with a real center forward – a real nine.

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Uwe Seeler (†85), Gerd Müller (†75), Klaus Fischer (74), Rudi Völler (63) and Miroslav Klose have not yet found a successor, was one of the statements before the World Cup in Qatar. There Füllkrug only came on as a substitute against Spain (1:1) and Costa Rica (4:2) and scored straight away in both games.

“England have at least seven classic centre-forwards who could play for the national team. Why don’t we have that?” Jürgen Klopp (56) asked himself at the time.

Now two strikers, Niclas Füllkrug and Deniz Undav, are ready to fill this position. But Nagelsmann seems to be pursuing a different plan. The next games will show whether this idea will work.

2024-03-22 19:37:38
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