Jurgen Klopp forced into immediate Florian Wirtz U-turn after Germany injury blow

· Mirror

New Germany boss Jurgen Klopp had named two squads for the four matches in this international window, but injuries have forced the former Liverpool manager's hand

Jurgen Klopp has been required to call up Florian Wirtz earlier than expected after a double injury blow for Germany.

Klopp is taking charge of his first camp as national team manager, after being named as Julian Nagelsmann’s successor. And he joins at a unique time for international managers, with countries facing four games in an extended window of matches.

The former Liverpool boss took the novel approach of naming two different squads, with the first featuring against Netherlands and Greece. Wirtz was selected in the second group to face Serbia and then the return match in Greece.

However, after Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz picked up injury issues in the draw with Netherlands, Klopp has been forced to react.

Wirtz along with Frankfurt striker Jonathan Burkardt have now joined the squad and will be available for the next three matches, starting with Greece on Sunday night.

The Liverpool star will be desperate to impress Klopp after an indifferent start to the new season under Andoni Iraola. In 6 appearances, Wirtz has just one assist - although Iraola insists his performances have been better than those numbers.

Iraola said: "He is a good player out of possession who helps us in our press. But he runs the same as the 10 of Arsenal, the 10 of (Manchester) City, the 10 of Fulham and more or less his stats are very similar to the number 10s other teams have.

"But that is why you cannot just play because of the numbers. Whether a striker scores a lot of goals or he doesn’t score a lot of goals, you have to look at the performances. Does he help us to play well? Yes.

"Well, someone will score the goals and someone will give the assists. It is not that because you had the last touch, you played better than the other person.”

Klopp was at pains to confirm that Wirtz - and the others included in the second squad - was not in a de-facto ‘b team’ and that his approach was done in order to meet as many players as possible.

"I want to get to know as many players as possible," Klopp explained. "There is no A or B team. The squads are put together in a way that makes sense on the pitch and in terms of character and experience."

Klopp was forced to settle for a point in his first game in charge of Germany, with Cody Gakpo getting one over his old club boss with a 92nd minute equaliser for the Netherlands.

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