England Under 21 Discussions Thread (2002+ born) #8

Cherki obviously with the seniors which is a big miss for them.

 

Posts on social media saying Monaco have blocked him.

 

To be honest I haven´t been all that invested in the German national teams for the last years (which isn´t bc of their recent drought or whatever but has more to do with the way they try to implement or rather force certain politics instead of trying to unite the extremely torn German nation through the love for the game which for example has also caused an increase of ´club over country´ attitude at least among the younger Dortmund fans which I´ve never witnessed before in Germany.) but I´d say it´s a pretty stacked squad, at least compared to last year´s edition. It definetely has the best options at striker and goalkeeper since at least 10 years for a German u21 side with Urbig who played in the Champions League for Bayern when Neuer was injured not even participating due to the Club World Cup. Same with central midfielder Tom Bischof who´ll join Bayern soon. Most of the players are integral parts of their Bundesliga/ Bundesliga2 clubs which hasn´t alwasy been the case lately. Some of the rather unknown names outside of Germany are midfielders Merlin Röhl and Casper Jander who I like and defenders Tim Oermann and Max Rosenfelder who seem to be a bit more in the mould of "old-school" no-nonsense defenders. Brighton´s Brajan Gruda has become a bit of a star for them during the Qualifiers. Overall, I´d say there are more potential senior internationals in this squad compared to previous ones. Another indicator for this might be the birth years who are a lot younger compared to former German u21 selections where they traditionally never promoted younger players even though they might have deserved it (Wirtz being a notable and obvious exception). Some of these young players like 06 Finn Jeltsch completely deserve their place whilst I personally feel like 05 Wanner has been lucky to keep his place after a difficult season with Heidenheim (although he had a very positive start there) and his mainly there out of fear he could represent Austria otherwise. However, many of the squads under Stefan Kuntz were extremely well-drilled and managed and Di Salvo doesn´t seem to have the same tactical flexibility, motivational power, experience and so on. Apart from the coach, I´d say the biggest weakness of this side is probably the defense (a common pattern amongst German teams at literally every level, really).

 

If Dortmund fans are put off then what’s the popularity of the national team in the old eastern part of Germany like?

 

After that calibre of club, I honestly think the next best option would be Newcastle. A slow integration into one of the league's better sides/bigger clubs would be preferable to throwing him straight into the starting lineup at Chelsea. I don't think he needs to play every minute of every game because he's still got loads he needs to work on. Howe is also one of the best development coaches in the league; pretty much everyone improves under him.

He'd be under way less pressure if he was behind Isak in the pecking order but he'd still get plenty of gametime because Howe likes to rotate when his players are fit and is generally very good at tweaking his system to fit players in. I also think Isak is inevitably going to leave Newcastle in the next year or two anyway.

 

You are absolutely right with this, a not insignificant amount of them are actively rooting against Germany since probably 2015 and Merkel´s stance on refugees from Islamic countries. I´d say at least 1/3rd of them which roughly correlates with the amount of Eastern Germans who vote the far-right AFD root against Germany but it could be even more because obviously Die Linke (the far-left) also tends to receive more votes in Eastern Germany and many on the far left are obviously also rooting against their own country for different reasons. But I suppose some of the centralists there also root against Germany because of the migration/refugee issues or because they don´t feel part of Germany/feel betrayed after the reunion and what not. Some of them literally say they identify as Eastern German or Russian instead of German. I guess one could say they are a bit like the Scousers in that regard?

 

Telegraph saying Trafford is probably going to be with the seniors next month and might even play.

Big chance now we have Beadle starting one or even all of the Euro matches.

BBC suggesting Delap might get a senior call up - which might mean he does not go to the Euros either.

 

Good idea imo.

 

Kind of surprising France would not select Cherki on the eve of the tournament having been with the side all cycle, especially given he seemed their key player. There doesn't seem any particularly reason they couldn't do what Germany are doing with Woltemade and have him go to the seniors before the tournament. Deschamps being Deschamps I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't make it on to the pitch for the seniors either.

Then again France have never been a nation to give particular interest to the under 21 Euro's, and Cherki did play the last tournament, and the Olympics last season so he's certainly had his fill of underage tournaments.

The situation with Yoro is also quite strange, he hasn't been called up since 2023.

 

Rodrigo Mora has been called up to Portugal senior team for the nation league last Four, the u21s could really done with him and I doubt he will get game time in the senior squad

 

Ipswich Town’s 22-year-old English striker Liam Delap has held talks with both Chelsea and Manchester United over a potential summer move. (Fabrizio Romano via CaughtOffside, external)

 

Livramento remains the main choice for Man City according to Fabrizio Romano.

 

Ipswich manager McKenna confirms Liam Delap is expected to leave: “Yes, he’s looking at his options for next year. We support him with that”.

Delap has already met with Chelsea and Man United as he’s in the list of several clubs this summer. (Fabrizio Romano)

 

Everton have presented their project to Liam Delap in direct meeting with David Moyes involved.
Face to face talks took place this week, as Chelsea and Man United remain keen on Ipswich striker.
£30m clause available, Everton would be ready to offer an important salary. (Fabrizio Romano)

Chelsea are still hoping to convince Liam Delap to move to Stamford Bridge rather than Manchester United, with their final game of the season potentially representing another game that could change the summer transfer market. (The Independent)

 

Will Jobe stay now?

 

Even if he wants to leave it makes it tougher now. Sunderland will probably demand an extortionate fee.

 

‘Thomas Tuchel on Liam Delap: "He] needs to show and prove it. It doesn’t help if we talk endlessly about him. We know his quality, but the fact is he went down with Ipswich.

He needs to find a chance to still compete in the Premier League and [then] he needs to fight for his place and score.

But he’s clearly on our radar and we will never hold someone back because of age, not because he’s too old and not because he’s too young. He needs to show up now for the U21s, take it step by step." ‘

 

Arsenal are worried about the long-term future of Ethan Nwaneri, as contract talks have proven problematic.
Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City are all watching his situation closely.
(Source: @TBRFootball)

 

I't'll be extremely hard for Arsenal to accomodate all of Saka, Nwaneri and Dowman long-term. All left-footed and right side dominant players. Saka's more of a natural wide option but he's still someone who likes to access the half spaces a lot and will probably be given more freedom to do that in the near future. There's obviously Odegaard there too.

I think it'd be really hard for Arsenal to maximally develop Nwaneri and Dowman together while Saka (and Odegaard) is at the club. More than likely we'd end up seeing one of them converted to a suboptimal role. They both want to operate in exactly the same areas of the pitch and there's already too much congestion.

 

Nottingham Forest are considering a move for Liverpool's 22-year-old English defender Jarell Quansah. (Football Insider), external