Marc-André ter Stegen is finally getting his chance as the number one keeper for the German national team as Jürgen Klopp takes charge of his first stint of matches as new national team manager. Manuel Neuer is now longer in the mix at the national team despite temporarily coming out of international retirement for the World Cup this past summer and Klopp has made it clear that ter Stegen is the number one keeper for Die Mannschaft for now.
As a part of his 44-man roster that’s split into two separate
squads, Klopp had called up all of Ter Stegen, Jonas Urbig, Finn Dahmen, Noah Atubolu, and Alexander Nubel. The former Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, and Mainz manager has played coy when he’s been asked about starting eleven predictions for the first pair of matches with his first, 24-man squad, but ter Stegen is the number one keeper for the time being, regardless of who else gets time in all four of the Nations League matches.
Fulham keeper Bernd Leno recently said he strongly feels that Urbig can be the number one keeper for Bayern Munich, eventually taking over for Neuer. The club is still using the model of Neuer acting as a mentor to Urbig, who the club is grooming to eventually become the number one keeper.
A far as the national team is concerned, ter Stegen was asked about Urbig and said he feels the youngster still has some growing and developing to do, but is in the perfect setup at Bayern to do just that.
“The goalkeepers I see in training here and who will be here next week are all excellent goalkeepers. We’re all operating at a good level. We want to make the coach’s decision as difficult as possible in the future. Jonas Urbig is still very young and a fantastic goalkeeper. He hasn’t established himself as Bayern’s No. 1 yet because Manu is there. But the two of them have developed into a great partnership. He can look to Manu as a role model, and that’s very important for Jonas. He’s in a great situation: he doesn’t have the maximum pressure on him yet, and he can develop really well,” the Ajax keeper explained in the press conference ahead of the Netherlands clash in Amsterdam (via @iMiaSanMia).
Vincent Kompany had also echoed the sentiment that he feels Urbig will eventually become the number one keeper for Germany, and as ter Stegen alluded to, he is in the right setup at Bayern to make that happen. He will gradually get more minutes with the German Rekordmeister under continued mentorship from Neuer and gain more and more valuable experience.
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