Germany coach Joachim Loew has sidestepped the subject of a possible Olympic place for Bayern Munich’s former international Thomas Mueller.
Loew said yesterday it was a matter for Germany Under-21 coach Stefan Kuntz.
“He gave me a few names before Christmas. Some or maybe even many come into question,” Loew said at the New Year’s reception of the German Football League (DFL) in Offenbach.
The Olympic tournament is officially an under-23 event for which each team can nominate three older players.
None of Germany’s players at the July 24-August 8 Olympics, however, will come from the senior squad at the June 12-July 12 European Championships.
“First he (Kuntz) has to wait and see who is with the senior team because we don’t want to play two tournaments, that’s for sure,” Loew said.
Mueller, 30, played 100 games for the senior national team between 2010 and 2018 before being told by Loew 10 months ago he was no longer wanted.
Mueller said he would not rule out going to the Tokyo Olympics - possibly along with his dressage-riding wife, Lisa Mueller – but insisted the issue is not on his mind right now.
Oliver Bierhoff, the German Football federation’s national team director, said a player like Mueller could not be ruled out but there were a lot of factors to be considered.
“It is interesting to take older players bearing several aspects in mind, of course the sporting quality but also the experience and personality,” he said.
“I said to Stefan Kuntz that he can make the most of it, and of course that includes Thomas Mueller. But that’s still a long way off. You shouldn’t exclude any player or for that matter any former international player.”
Kuntz meanwhile told Die Welt daily he had spoken to a number of clubs. Asked about the fact that a list of names had to be presented by Wednesday to the National Anti-Doping Agency, Kuntz said he would not be revealing the names of the candidates.