Brandt, Draxler earn Germany recalls

Julian Brandt and Julian Draxler were on Friday given the chance to boost their hopes of playing at next year’s World Cup after being recalled by Germany for forthcoming qualifiers.

Germany have already secured their place at next year’s World Cup in Qatar, but the pair have been recalled for next week’s final qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Armenia.

Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan also returns to the Germany camp after a hamstring injury ruled him out of last month’s wins over Romania and North Macedonia.

Borussia Dortmund winger Brandt, 25, and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Draxler missed out on places in Germany’s squad for last summer’s European Championship.

“They can draw attention to themselves,” explained Germany head coach Flick, who feels the pair “have good qualities and can bring a team on.”

Brandt and Draxler have both seen their careers stall for club and country.

Draxler is understudy to Brazil superstar Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain and has not played for Germany in more than a year.

Likewise, Brandt is not a first-choice at Dortmund, where club captain Marco Reus occupies the attacking midfield role, and his last international appearance was in November 2020.

The only uncapped players called up are Lukas Nmecha, who has impressed at Wolfsburg since his summer transfer from Manchester City, and Freiburg defender Nico Schlotterbeck.

Nmecha, 22, was born in Hamburg, but moved to England with as a child.

He has played for both the English and German Under-21 teams before declaring for country of birth.

Flick has called up eight players from Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich including Germany captain and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.