What Southgate has said about Musiala who sees 'England as home' but chose Germany

That's if former England youth star Jamal Musiala comes back to haunt his former nation after choosing to represent Die Mannschaft over the Three Lions.

The German-born 19-year-old has now become a key member of Bayern Munich's squad, making 30 appearances for the German champions in the Bundesliga last season, scoring five goals.

Born in Stuttgart to a German mother and British-Nigerian father, Musiala moved to England at the age of seven when his mother began her degree in sociology at the University of Southampton.

Having spent time with regional side Central City, Chelsea came calling for the attacking midfielder and he moved to London to study at Whitgift School during his eight years with the Blues, before returning to Germany four years ago to play for Bayern.

Musiala represented England from Under-15 level all the way through to the Under-21s, scoring his first Three Lions goal at U21s level only back in 2020.

Gareth Southgate is understood to have been confident he would commit to playing for the senior team, but Musiala decided to represent the country of his birth after holding talks with former Germany boss Joachim Low.

The attacking midfielder revealed his reasons for choosing to play for the four-time World Cup winners back in 2021, stating that it 'wasn't an easy decision'.

"England is home for me," he told The Athletic. "It is difficult to find words for what England means for me because I have so many memories connected to very positive emotions.

"I have a heart for Germany and a heart for England. Both hearts will keep on beating."

"I've thought about this question a lot," he added. "What is best for my future? Where do I have more chances to play?

"In the end, I just listened to the feeling that over a long period of time kept telling me that it was the right decision to play for Germany, the land I was born in. Still, it wasn't an easy decision for me."

Southgate will get another chance to see what was almost his, with Musiala set to feature against England in the Three Lions' second Nations League tie.

Their first was an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Hungary and the England boss admits he 'would have liked' to have Musiala available for selection.

"We'd have liked him to stay [with England] for certain," Southgate said in his pre-match press conference.

"But when you're training at Bayern Munich every day and you're surrounded by Bayern Munich and German players, then that's a little bit more challenging and, of course, his family have those strong ties.

"We enjoyed working with him when he was in our junior teams. He was a really nice boy to work with. We knew he was going to be, and he is, a good player.

"So, yes, we would have liked him for sure but we've got lots of these situations now in England - I'm sure Germany have got the same - where players can play for a number of different countries and sometimes your heart is going to take you somewhere else. We have complete respect for that.

"It's nice to see him doing well, having met him first off when he was about 13 or 14. So I'm really pleased for him that that's working well. Tomorrow I don't care less, but generally, I'm pleased to see him doing well."

Tune into talkSPORT for LIVE commentary of Germany vs England in the UEFA Nations League - Tuesday, June 7 - Kick-off: 7:45pm BST