Serge Gnabry stunned by Löw’s decision to axe Müller, Hummels, and Boateng from German national team

Serge Gnabry was just as shocked as a lot of Germany was when Joachim Low abruptly announced that Thomas Müller, Mats Hummels, and Jerome Boateng had been cut from the German national team. In an interview with Sport1, the 23-year-old expressed his sympathy for the trio of Bayern Munich teammates, saying that he genuinely feels sorry for them:

I feel personally bad for the three of them. I was just as surprised as many other people in the whole country and the players themselves. It’s obvious that it was a blow for the three. But you have to accept that. The boys pushed themselves today in training. Their career will go on.

One of Löw’s main reasons for removing the trio from the national team was to make way for younger players, who will get the opportunity to establish themselves on Die Mannschaft. Germany’s poor showing in Russia during the 2018 World Cup left Löw and his coaching staff with many lingering questions. Depending on who you ask, some consider Löw quite lucky to have kept his job as manager.

Discussing the balance of youth and experienced players on any given squad, Gnabry cited Ajax’s recent 4-1 triumph over Real Madrid but also acknowledged that it is sometimes necessary to have veteran, experienced players on the squad:

When things go well, everyone says, “You don’t need experience.” On the other side, when things aren’t working, they say, “You need experience.” It always depends on success.

Gnabry feels that it was important of the atmosphere on a team to be able to learn from veteran players.

Ironically enough, on the same day that Löw gave Müller, Hummels, and Boateng the axe, Bayern announced that Gnabry had signed a contract extension, keeping him with the club until 2023. To say that it was a bit of a “passing of the torch” series of events would be a bit of a stretch, since the moves were unrelated. But it is, in a way, representative of the direction Löw wants to move the German national team — bringing more younger players on board for the long haul.