From future number one to top of Dortmund’s wishlist: Nine Germany players who could debut against Serbia | OneFootball

Jürgen Klopp’s Germany era started with underwhelming results and performances against the Netherlands and Greece, but the extended international break is mainly used to experiment, with five players already making their senior international debuts.

That number will certainly increase when the four-time World Cup winners face Serbia and Greece in the first week of October. Here is the list of players who could follow in the footsteps of Philipp Treu, Younes Ebnoutalib, Yannik Engelhardt, Bambasé Conté and Hennes Behrens.

Jonas Urbig (23, GK, FC Bayern)

Including his selection to accompany the 59-year-old in the pre-match press conference, all signs are pointing towards Urbig making his debut in Germany’s goal against Serbia. FC Bayern’s shot-stopper is touted to be Manuel Neuer’s long-term replacement at both club and country level.

With the 41-year-old facing multiple setbacks, Urbig has already featured 34 times for the Rekordmeister, including 20 Bundesliga starts. Klopp confirmed that he’ll be behind Marc-André ter Stegen in the pecking order, but the former Köln goalie will be expected to make his international debut on Thursday at Allianz Arena.

Said El Mala (20, LW, Köln)

Köln prodigy El Mala was in the headlines throughout the entire summer transfer market. Both Brentford and Borussia Dortmund were very close to agreeing to a deal with Köln, but the 20-year-old attacker eventually extended his contract.

However, like Köln’s legendary number ten Lukas Podolski, he’ll surely leave the club in the near future if he maintains his current performance level. Julian Nagelsmann did nominate El Mala for the national team during the World Cup qualifiers, but he was only an unused substitute in the win over Luxembourg.

Finn Jeltsch (20, CB, Stuttgart)

Another uncapped 20-year-old in Klopp’s second squad, Jeltsch is on FC Bayern’s wishlist for quite some time. The 2024/25 DFB-Pokal winner started all six games for Stuttgart at the start of the season.

The Nürnberg academy product could return to Bavaria if the move to the German giants finally materialized, although recent reports added Real Madrid and Arsenal to the race. Including captaining the U21 side, Jeltsch played a total of 43 games for Germany youth national teams.

Mika Baur (22, CM, Celtic)

The central midfielder is one of the surprise inclusions in Klopp’s extended squad for his first four games in charge of Germany. From the previous six Germans in Celtic’s history, only the right-back Andreas Hinkel played for the national team while he was still at the club.

Baur joined the Scottish champions after helping Paderborn to a Bundesliga promotion. While Celtic’s start to the campaign left plenty to ponder with yet another Champions League elimination and defeats to fierce rivals Rangers, he personally settled well at his first club outside Germany.

Vitaly Janelt (28, CM, Brentford)

If he gets his chance either against Serbia or Greece, Janelt will be Klopp’s oldest debutant among the outfield players. The 28-year-old conceded that he was very close to giving up on waiting for his first international call.

In addition to the extended squad list, Brentford’s unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign certainly helped the Hamburg-born midfielder in ending that wait. Janelt played every minute so far this season as he scored in the first two home games before captaining his side against Bournemouth and Chelsea before the international break.

Felix Keidel (23, DM, Elversberg)

The all-rounder was playing 3. Liga football with Ingolstadt in the 2024/25 season. When he left his childhood club in a move that cost Elversberg €400k, there was no way he’d expect such a quick turnaround in his career.

After helping the minnows to their first-ever promotion to the Bundesliga, Keidel scored against Borussia Mönchengladbach with a spectacular free-kick. The 23-year-old has never played for Germany youth national teams before receiving Klopp’s surprising call.

Derry Scherhant (23, LW, Freiburg)

After Treu’s excellent debut, Scherhant could be the next Freiburg star to make his first appearance for Germany. The former Hertha BSC winger displaced Freiburg’s legend Vincenzo Grifo from the starting lineup with his strong start to the campaign.

The 23-year-old attacker already registered nine direct goal contributions across three competitions for Julian Schuster’s overachieving side. Florian Wirtz was Nagelsmann’s preferred option on the left wing during the World Cup, while Scherhant will now compete with El Mala, Kevin Schade and Chris Führich for regular squad spots.

Finn Dahmen (28, GK, Augsburg) and Noah Atubolu (24, GK, Freiburg)

Although it’s highly unlikely that they will play against Serbia, either Dahmen or Atubolu could get a chance away in Greece. Both Marc ter Stegen and Alexander Nübel left the squad after playing a game each in the first two fixtures of the UEFA Nations League campaign.

Dahmen and Atubolu are now ahead of Oliver Baumann, who was Germany’s number one before Neuer’s return from retirement for the World Cup, but they will most likely miss out when Klopp announces his 23-man squad for the next international break in November.