According to Whoscored, Banks would be the only CB in the German pool under the age of 24 who has started at least 14 games at CB this season in a top 5 league. (Banks is at 19 starts currently.) However, Clemens Riedel (22) has started 11 games for Espanyol this season, and Finn Jeltsch (19) has started 13 games for Stuttgart this season. Here is every other Germany CB under the age of 29 who has started at least 14 games at CB this season in a top 5 league: Thiaw (24) - Newcacstle Bisseck (25) - Inter Jenz (26) - Wolfsburg N. Schlotterbeck (26) - Dortmund K. Schlotterbeck (28) - Augsburg Chabot (28) - Stuttgart A couple of those players have never really held down a consistent starting role at that level. As far as I can tell, the starting CBs on Germany's U21 European Championship team are playing in Sturm Graz (in Austria) and Braga (in Portugal) right now. (The aforementioned Jeltsch withdrew due to injury.) All to say, I'm not seeing a lot of high level competition at that position for next cycle.
He didn't come up in the Whoscored search I did because they didn't have him affiliated with any nation for some reason, but yep looks like he qualifies as well.
Huh?? Rudiger, starting Centerback for Real Madrid. Then, Jonathan Tah, starting Centerback for Bayern, one of the best Centerbacks in all of Germany. Then Nico Schlotterbeck, Dortmunds best defender and currently in the midst of what looks like will become a bidding war between Madrid and Liverpool to sign in the summer. Then you have a bunch of top notch CB's like Andrich, Koch, Anton, Can, Thiaw. All legit ballers top class CB's and important players for top European clubs and Champions league squads like Dortmund, Newcastle, and Leverkusen. Compared to the rest of the world Germany does not lack much in defensive capabilities, and if their defenders "are pretty crap" holy hell NOBODY is world football today have good defenders. Granted, none of these guys are Franz Beckenbauer, but every single one of these guys are currently wayy better than a 19 y/o Banks with only a little over half a season of Bundesliga play.
Yeah I don't think he has any chance of making their roster in the next few months. But Banks has basically said he's thinking long term and doesn't want his decision to depend on the upcoming World Cup. Most of the players you named are 30+ (Rudiger, Tah, Andrich, and Can; plus Koch and Anton turn 30 in July). If he's thinking about next cycle, Thiaw and Schlotterbeck are the options from the list above who will still be in their prime years for the position.
Half of them aren’t that good, either. Anton, Andrich, and Koch all have fewer than 20 caps. That’s not to say that Banks is better than them right now, but they’re not such good players that the idea of overtaking them within a year or two is fantastical.
But I think that also gets to the crux of it. Putting aside his obvious deep German connections, who did he dream about playing with: Antonio Rudiger or...Carlos Bocanegra? Johnathan Tah or...Tim Ream? Manuel Neuer or...Chris Brady. Etc etc He owes it to himself, his family, and his career to see if he can crack that squad. I'm sure we've benefited from one time switches like this, where guys got youth caps for "lesser" countries and then cracked our squad. It happens. The pool and the game move on.
Maybe he will be better than all of them; but guess what, maybe he won't. Germany, could also easily have other nonentities at the moment become world class in a year or two as well. Hell Gio Reyna looked as good if not better than Pedri at 19, and look at him now. womp womp.
That's fine. If he wants Germany, then have at it, but don't be pretending all these years you love and want the USA and love playing for the program. You even allow yourself to get cap tied by the USA in youth World Cups, only to abandon it during the pinnacle of a Senior home world cup. That shit is gross. Makes me appreciate soo much more guys like Dest. The pool and the game absolutely move on, the USMNT is in a much better state talent wise than it ever has been, and losing a guy like Banks, even if he turns out to be the next big thing, ultimately wont be that bad.
You do understand Centerbacks can play well into their 30's and often times that's when they tend to perform at their best? So I'm seeing ALOT of high level competition just from those names alone. Never mind all those young German boys sitting on benches all over the Bundesliga, unknown entities, because they have yet to take that big jump, but will always happen.
https://www.footballtransfers.com/us/statistics/players/best-soccer-players/defenders/u20 You know what’s wild? I googled something like “best U‑20 centerbacks in the world” and found a list from footballtransfers.com. . Luca Bombino (San Diego) came in at 12th, and Banks was 24th. Every player on the list was 19, so who knows what other criteria (aside from age) they’re using. The only German included was Finn Jeltsch from Stuttgart. I’m not sure how any of this fits into the whole USMNT vs. Germany debate—it just caught my eye. The eye test on Banks so far, at least from my vantage point, screams that he’s headed for something big. It feels fitting that he has both USMNT and German options. That alone says a lot about his talent. It’s tough to stay patient in situations like this. We all get antsy, but ultimately it’s not about us or our feelings. Of course, as I said that, I'm selfish and want him badly for the USMNT.
To be clear that Footballtransfers list is all defenders, not just CBs. Bombino is only 5’9” and is a left back - don’t think he has much of a future in the middle.
According to wikipedia, the oldest defender Germany has called up to the national team in the past 12 months just turned 33 a few days ago (and that's Rudiger). The players you named that I excluded will be 34 or above by July 2030. It is true that center backs can play well into their 30's. But there generally won't be multiple 34+ year old CBs on a World Cup roster, and as the example above shows, often there won't be any. Among the names I included, yes there's some competition, but I don't think it's really at the level you find with some of the other elite nations in the world. At least not something that would make a young CB starting regularly in the Bundesliga feel like he has little shot of breaking through eventually. Even if you assume one of those 34+ CBs will also still be around.
Some of you clearly overrate national pride compared to a CB who can pass, to the point that you're willing to make the team worse in the future out of spite.
I believe the kid when he says he's torn. It's gotta be a tough decision - WC now with US or hang on for Germany, which may or may not come. If he chooses to come to March camp I think he'll be in the right mindset based on his previous experiences. Question for me is does Poch want to risk it.
Perhaps he feels less of a connection to the US now than he might have a year ago. It’s not an uncommon position.
Perhaps, but I don't buy it. He me moved to Germany when he was like 9 y/o, spent damn near half his life in the USA. He has represented the USA at every youth level, even played in a youth WC for us and by all accounts was fully committed to the USA, up until a couple months ago when the German program actually started to give a shit about this kid and then Nagelsmann started whispering sweet promises and visions of him winning WC's in 2030 and 2034 with Germany, though Nagelsmann is probably long gone and on to another gig after this WC. lol.
I don't see it as making it worse, in fact it would be stronger. You really want some guy that would turn down a home WC at a mere chance at playing for another team at some unbeknownst time in the distant future? There's pride and then there's self respect, we should have a little of the latter if it ultimately means anything to play and support the USMNT.
still pretty impressive that Bombino would be listed at 12. Actually, since it included all defenders (larger pool of players), it is even more impressive. That being said, I would take that with a grain of salt. To illustrate why, here is another interesting tidbit: the number 12 defender (Bombino) has an est transfer value of 2.7M, while the 24th defender has an estimated 10.5M value.