Central player of the World Cup? Nagelsmann gives update on Musiala | OneFootball

The German national team has qualified for the 2026 World Cup in the absence of the injured Jamal Musiala. Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann has now explained how Musiala’s return to the DFB is progressing around six months before the finals.

After an arduous qualifying campaign, the German national team secured their ticket to the 2026 World Cup with a clear 6-0 win over Slovakia and a strengthened Bayern axis. The national team coach still had far from all of his key players on board

Julian Nagelsmann wants to wait and see in the coming months whether long-term injured DFB regulars like Jamal Musiala will be called up for the World Cup: „Of course we have the ideal squad in mind, but there are so many factors that we can’t determine,“ he said after the successful qualifiers about the planned personnel for the finals

Bayern’s high-class technician Musiala suffered a serious fracture to his fibula at the Club World Cup in the summer and is due to return to Munich team training in December. In addition to Musiala, Arsenal’s Kai Havertz is also currently out with a knee injury

„Must become stable“ – No World Cup guarantee for Musiala

The national coach did not want to guarantee either of the two attacking stars a place in the World Cup, let alone a key role in the DFB team: „I can’t say now that I’m going to say that Kai and Jamal will play a key role for us and then they won’t be there at all. We’ve had that with one or the other for almost twelve months now,“ said Nagelsmann. He would expect Havertz and Musiala to return to the pitch „towards the end of the year“

photo: IMAGO

Both key players will first have to find their feet again at their clubs, which are full of world-class attacking players. The DFB’s next test match is not until 30 March against Côte d’Ivoire. „With us, they have time to get healthy again by March, but of course they have to become stable now,“ said Nagelsmann, hoping that both players will reintegrate well into their teams in the coming weeks and months

The national team coach wants to be prepared for possible setbacks: „We always have to leave a few doors open so that we can react to things,“ said Nagelsmann and stated that „we will try to make the best selection, that the best players will also fly to the USA

According to dpa, the provisional DFB squad is expected to be announced in mid-May next year. Final clarity on which squad will represent Germany at the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the USA will probably not be known until the beginning of June, when Nagelsmann has to submit the final World Cup squad of 26 players to FIFA.