The Manchester City winger Leroy Sané has been omitted from Germany’s final 23-man World Cup squad.
Sané, who won the PFA young player of year award after helping City to secure the Premier League title, missed out to Julian Brandt of Bayern Leverkusen while the manager, Joachim Löw, also opted to cut Bernd Leno, Jonathan Tah and Nils Petersen from his squad.
“There are certainly better days in the life of a national coach than when you must send four great players home who would have deserved to be at a World Cup,” Löw said at the team’s training camp in South Tyrol, Italy.
“You have to look at the big picture so we have a variable and well-balanced team prepared for all eventualities. We have good players on the wing in Thomas Müller and Marco Reus. Julian Draxler played a good Confed Cup and made progress there.
“It was a tight race between Leroy Sané and Julian Brandt. Both have big qualities, both are good in the one-on-one duels. Julian Brandt was at the Confed Cup, had some strong games there, and put in good shifts in the training camp too. Leroy Sané is a huge talent, no doubt, and he will be back with the team in September.”
Germany squad
Goalkeepers; Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Kevin Trapp (Paris Saint-Germain).
Defenders; Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Jérôme Boateng (Bayern Munich), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Antonio Rüdiger (Chelsea), Niklas Süle (Bayern Munich), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha Berlin), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach).
Midfielders; Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Mesut Özil (Arsenal), Julian Draxler (Paris Saint-Germain), Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City), Leon Goretzka (Schalke), Sebastian Rudy (Bayern Munich), Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen).
Forwards Mario; Gómez (Stuttgart), Timo Werner (Leipzig).
