Jürgen Klopp is set to officially name his first Germany squad as manager on September 17th for the UEFA Nations League matches against the Netherlands, Greece and Serbia. The trio of Nations League matches will be Germany's first since their shock early exit from the World Cup this past summer in the round of 32 by virtue of losing to Paraguay in a penalty shootout in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Klopp has already been in regular contact with a number of top Bundesliga managers like Vincent Kompany, Niko Kovac and Sebastian Hoeneß to help maintain transparency amongst the managers from club's he'll be picking the bulk of his players from. Coming from the world of managing clubs himself, Klopp is very well aware of the concerns club managers have with protecting certain players from international breaks and sustaining injuries, but he's also been tasked with getting Germany back on the right track. It's a unique balancing act, but one that he's more than ready for.
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Klopp has already made it clear he plans on making some alterations in his squad selection for the national team from the squad that collectively disappointed at the World Cup. Per information from Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg
, he's set to include 1. FC Köln's Said El Mala in his squad next month; a player that controversially missed out on Julian Nagelsmann's World Cup squad.
At this juncture, unless something unforeseen or extraordinary happens with El Mala between now and September 17th, the exciting 20-year-old will be in Klopp's first Germany squad. The former Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz manager has a lot of admiration for the youngster and he's a player that he sees as having a lot of potential — a trajectory he very much wants to support and have him closely ingrained with the national team.
In Köln's Bundesliga opener, which was a 3-2 win over Hoffenheim, El Mala scored the first of the three goals for the Billy Goats as he looks to improve upon his 13 goals and 5 assists last season across all competitions.
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