Can only make the wrong choice: next German wonderkid has doubts | OneFootball

Could the next youngster turn his back on the DFB? In Mio Backhaus’ case, it’s at least not out of the question. The goalkeeper is eligible to play for both Germany and Japan. That is why the Japanese federation has been courting the Werder keeper for years. 

National team coach Hajime Moriyasu visited him in Bremen when he was just 17, Backhaus reported in an interview with '11Freunde'. The coach told him that he could see him in the senior national team in the foreseeable future.

"At that point, I wasn’t playing any role for the first team (at Werder; editor’s note) at all," says Backhaus. He said he was impressed that the national coach had still made the trip to speak with him.

However, he has not made a decision so far and does not want to make it dependent on the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico either. Since both are great countries, he said, "I feel like I can only make the wrong decision."

For the current international break, the keeper has been called up to the Germany U21 national team. Antonio Di Salvo’s side will face Northern Ireland and Greece in the European Championship qualifiers. Before the U21s, Backhaus had progressed through Germany’s youth national teams from the U15 level onward. Because they had supported his development so well, he has a good relationship with the DFB, he explained.  

 "If I were to decide against the DFB and for Japan now, it would feel like it affects 100 people who have taken loving and wonderful care of me over all these years. I do wonder whether they would think: What did we do it all for?", the 21-year-old explained, describing his inner conflict. 

He has not yet met Nagelsmann, but for now his focus is on the U21s, since that is the team he has been called up for. "With players like Noah Atubolu, you can see how quickly things can move. And as long as I keep getting called up for the U21s, I’m not overthinking it or putting myself under pressure," Backhaus concluded. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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