DIDI HAMANN WAS one of the many people surprised by the recent exclusion of Leroy Sane from Germany’s World Cup squad.
The 22-year-old joined Man City from Schalke for £37 million in 2016.
This season, in particular, the winger has been a revelation for Pep Guardiola’s side, helping them achieve a record-breaking Premier League triumph and winning PFA Young Player of the Year in the process.
Speaking at the launch of RTÉ’s World Cup coverage earlier, former Liverpool and Germany star Hamann suggested Sane paid the price for some sub-par performances with the national team.
“I didn’t expect it, but he didn’t play well the last two games against Brazil and Austria, and this is where he’s very strong and strict, the manager [Joachim Löw].
“If he doesn’t think he’ll help the team or he’s not in a position now to help the team, maybe in a year or two years’ time, then he leaves him out. I wouldn’t say it was a shock, but a lot of people were surprised.”
Marco Reus had been a doubt in recent times, but having returned to fitness and form last February following serious injury problems, Hamann feels the Dortmund star’s position in the squad was never in doubt.
Reus was always going if he’s fit, the decision as a manager was between [Julian] Brandt and Sane. I would have taken both. I would have left [Leon] Goretzka or [Julian] Draxler behind, because Sane is one of the few players who’s got out-and-out pace, and I think we lack that a little bit. For that reason, I would have taken him.
“He’s been outstanding last season, but that just goes to show, the manager is not interested. Obviously, he watches them for their club, the reason he was picked in the first place was he was doing well for his club, but in the two weeks they played together in the games they played, [Sane] obviously wasn’t up to the standard of what he expected from him, hence he left him out.”
Hamann, meanwhile, also expects Bayern Munich stopper Manuel Neuer to feature prominently for Germany, having overcome fitness worries.
“If he’s fit, if he’s 100%, or 95, 98%, and he did well against Austria, he’s been training for a few weeks now, you’ve got to play him. If you take him you’ve got to play him, if you don’t think of playing him then don’t take him, it’s one or the other.
“Because if he’s there, he is the best goalkeeper we’ve got. We are very fortunate, blessed, to have a number two like [Marc-André] ter Stegen. But if Neuer’s there, he’s got to play.”
A less heralded name to be included in the squad is 22-year-old forward Timo Werner. With Mario Gomez the only other out-and-out forward in the Germany squad, the inexperienced youngster, who has seven goals from 13 international caps, could have an important role to play.
Hamann, however, feels Werner still has plenty to prove at the highest level.
“I think it will be a learning curve, because he’s played one season of Champions League and he’s improved a lot in terms of stature, in terms of personality, but this is a different ball game,” he said.
It will be interesting… I couldn’t tell you that I will be confident that he will be a success, because against physical presence sometimes in the past, you know nobody likes it, but I don’t think he likes it at all.
“You’ve got to be a certain type of character to stand your ground on the biggest stage, and in Mexico, Sweden and South Korea, we’ve got three physical teams we’re playing against, so it will be a huge test. I think we’ll know a lot more about him after the World Cup. At this moment in time, I’ve got my doubts about him.”
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And if he hadn’t tried to amalgamate the middle eastern countries to take control if it’s oil reserves by trading it in denar instead of dollars, he may well still be alive. Great to see Libya thriving today though under western democracy
@domas1507: I must add though that the counter argument would be that if we hadn’t delivered “democracy” then we would have lost control of a vital resource and we would possibly be the countries in turmoil. So it all depends on how you like you bread buttered I suppose
@domas1507: yeah, but more importantly, who won the match?
@Conoroconnor: Watch it tonight… Exclusively on RTE
@Gary Donlan: indeed I will. I have it set to record.
@Conoroconnor: ended 1-1
@domas1507: spoiler alert ffs!
The gas thing here is that Hughey made his close friend Larry Goodman a rich man because of sending beef to Libya. The same fella today has a monopoly on Irish beef factories because he holds the only offal license in the country. He uses this to keep the price of beef paid to farmers low.
Also look up the beef tribunal and how Haughey bailed out Goodman after the US invaded Iraq and Goodman went bankrupt.
Farmer gets €1200 for his product, he keeps them for 30 months. The factory and the supermarket get €1500 in profits for a few days work.
Each animal is worth about €2700 when sold to the consumer.
@great gael of Eire:Didnt know Hughey was friends with Larry Goodman. I’ve never seen him drinking in mccoys
@Peter Govan: Very good. Haha
Poor Gaddafi. Iti was probably the BSE beef that did it.