Down to twenty-seven, with some new faces

This afternoon Nationaltrainer Joachim Löw trimmed his provisional rump squad for next month’s Euro 2016 finals down to twenty-seven, with a number of new faces in the mix. As the final preparations begin with home friendlies against fellow tournament finalists Slovakia and Hungary, there will be one final revision to the squad when the final twenty-three are announced.

The new and untested names are not much of a surprise for those who have been following the Bundesliga this season. FC Bayern München’s Joshua Kimmich finally gets his name on the list, as does Borussia Dortmund starlet Julian Weigl. There’s also a call-up for another Julian who has been showing good form this season, Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s midfield tyro Julian Brandt. This means that, along with Julian Draxler, there are three Julians in the squad.

Schalke 04’s Leroy Sané is back in the minds of the national selectors after missing out on the last cut and will look to add to his one international appearance, while the other uncapped player in the twenty-seven is Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who nudges out Ron-Robert Zieler and Kevin Trapp to join Manuel Neuer and Marc-André ter Stegen.

The injured İlkay Gündoğan was always going to be the most obvious omission, but there are no places for Eric Durm and Christoph Kramer after inconsistent seasons for their club sides. Surprisingly, there is also no place for Matthias Ginter, who played in the Mannschaft’s 4-1 victory in March against Italy.

We all know the story of Max Kruse by now, and Kevin Volland making way for the much-praised Sané is no great surprise. In fact, the biggest shock was the Schalke winger not being picked in the original thirty-one in the first place.

Despite his not playing for much of this year and his long-running injury woes, there is still a place in the squad for skipper Bastian Schweinsteiger. Time will tell whether he will be fit to be in the final twenty-three who will head off to France, but I would have rather called time on things now and given another youngster a chance. There’s no point arguing with the Maharishi Jogi though!

I have listed the new squad below, mapped against the previous thirty-one selections announced in January. This way one can see at a quick glace the new entries (in green) and those who have been dropped (in red).

Goalkeepers (3)

Bernd Leno (Bayer 04 Leverkusen, 0/0)
Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern München, 64/0)
Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona, 5/0)
Kevin Trapp (Paris Saint-Germain, 0/0)
Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96, 6/0)

Defence (8)

Jérôme Boateng (FC Bayern München, 57/0)
Emre Can (Liverpool FC, 5/0)
Erik Durm (BV 09 Borussia Dortmund, 7/0)
Matthias Ginter (BV 09 Borussia Dortmund, 9/0)
Jonas Hector (1. FC Köln, 12/1)
Benedikt Höwedes (FC Schalke 04, 32/2)
Mats Hummels (BV 09 Borussia Dortmund, 46/4)
Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia CF, 10/0)
Antonio Rüdiger (AS Roma, 9/0)
Sebastian Rudy (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, 10/0)

Midfield (13)

Karim Bellarabi (Bayer 04 Leverkusen, 10/1)
Julian Brandt (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), 0/0)
Julian Draxler (VfL Wolfsburg, 17/1)
İlkay Gündoğan (BV 09 Borussia Dortmund, 16/4)
Sami Khedira (Juventus Torino, 58/5)
Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern München, 0/0)
Christoph Kramer (Bayer 04 Leverkusen, 12/0)
Toni Kroos (Real Madrid CF, 64/11)
Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München, 70/31)
Mesut Özil (Arsenal FC, 72/19)
Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray S.K., 127/48)
Marco Reus (BV 09 Borussia Dortmund, 29/9)
André Schürrle (VfL Wolfsburg, 50/20)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United FC, 114/23)
Julian Weigl (BV 09 Borussia Dortmund, 0/0)

Forwards (3)

Mario Gómez (Beşiktaş J.K, 62/26)
Mario Götze (FC Bayern München, 50/17)
Max Kruse (VfL Wolfsburg, 14/4)
Leroy Sané (FC Schalke 04, 1/0)
Kevin Volland (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, 6/0)