Bundesliga striking sensational Nick Woltemade will be remaining with Julian Nagelsmann’s national team this weekend for the UEFA Nations League third-place playoff. This despite statements to the contrary by Nagelsmann himself. The VfB Stuttgart man – pulling double duty with the senior team and German U21s this summer – won’t be reporting to Germany U21 head coach Antonio di Salvo’s camp.
Nagelsmann specifically stated that – after the defeat to Portugal in Wednesday’s semi-final fixture – Woltemade would “go straight to the U21s” . The German FA confirmed that this would not be the case one day later. Woltemade started in his first DFB-senior appearance on Wednesday and came close to scoring in the 19th minute.
Nagelsmann had positive things to say about the 23-year-old’s hour-long-shift. Woltemade’s initial cap for the seniors should be followed up by a second in Sunday’s match. Clearly, the German FA wants one of Germany’s most-watched talents to log more minutes at the highest level. Woltemade will now travel to di Salvo on Sunday evening,.
“He made good use of his first 60 minutes as a senior international,” Nagelsmann said of Woltemade on Wednesday night. “I wasn’t expecting miracles. A young player has a lot to deal with.”
GGFN | Peter Weis
