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Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan, Antonio Rudiger among several stars omitted from Germany squad

sportsmole.co.uk, 17 March 2023, 22:38
Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan and Antonio Rudiger are among a number of notable omissions from Hansi Flick's Germany squad for this month's international friendlies against Peru and Belgium.

Following Die Mannschaft's embarrassing 2022 World Cup group-stage exit, Flick has taken the opportunity to freshen up his senior squad and has selected several younger players who could stake a claim to feature at Euro 2024.

As a result, only 15 of the 26 players who made the trip to Qatar at the end of last year have been included in Flick's latest Germany squad, while five uncapped players have been called up.

"We're really excited to be back. We want to put together a strong squad for Euro 2024 in Germany," Flick told reporters. "In order to do that, it's important to use the few first games of this year to get new players involved and give them the chance to impress.

"Every single training session on the way to the tournament will be extremely important so that we can find the best team and help get the fans excited ahead of next year with some entertaining performances."

Manchester City midfielder Gundogan will not be involved as his wife recently gave birth to their first son, while Real Madrid defender Rudiger has mutually agreed to take a break from international duty to allow younger players to gain senior experience.

Bayern Munich duo Sane and Thomas Muller, Borussia Dortmund pair Marco Reus and Niklas Sule and RB Leipzig twosome Lukas Klostermann and Marcel Halstenberg have also been omitted from the squad.

Meanwhile, Manuel Neuer (leg), Youssoufa Moukoko (ankle) and Karim Adeyemi (hamstring) have all been left out as they continue to recover from injury.

As for incomings, right-backs Marius Wolf and Josha Vagnoman - of Dortmund and Stuttgart respectively - have both received their first senior international call-ups along with Wolfsburg attacker Felix Nmecha, Augsburg forward Mergim Berisha and Brentford winger Kevin Schade.

Leipzig's Timo Werner has returned after missing the World Cup due to an ankle injury, and the forward is one of only eight players in Germany's 24-man squad to have earned over 30 international caps.

Germany - who are the host nation for Euro 2024 - will welcome Peru to Mewa Arena on March 24 before taking on Belgium at RheinEnergieStadion four days later.

GERMANY SQUAD IN FULL:

Goalkeepers: Bernd Leno (Fulham), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Defenders: Armel Bella-Kotchap (Southampton), Matthias Ginter, Christian Gunter (both Freiburg), Thilo Kehrer (West Ham United), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Josha Vagnoman (Stuttgart), Marius Wolf (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders/Attackers: Mergim Berisha (Augsburg), Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund), Niclas Fullkrug (Werder Bremen), Serge Gnabry, Leon Goretzka (both Bayern Munich), Mario Gotze (Eintracht Frankfurt), Kai Havertz (Chelsea), Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala (both Bayern Munich), Felix Nmecha (Wolfsburg), Kevin Schade (Brentford), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)

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