Report: Jamal Musiala could still decide to play for Germany instead of England

Per a new report from SportBild, there is still hope that Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala could still wind up choosing to play for Germany instead of England. It was reported earlier this week that the starlet was leaning towards a future with the Three Lions, especially after England manager Gareth Southgate held positive discussions with the 17-year old at St. George’s Park during the last international break in November. He’s already made a handful of appearances for England’s U15-21 sides, the most recent of which came for the U-21 side in November.

While it does look more likely that Musiala will choose to commit his senior future to England, there’s still hope for the German National Team. Per the report from SportBild, it will likely come down to whichever side winds up offering Musiala a senior squad call up. Technically, Joachim Low could still beat Southgate to the punch in that regard. The next international break doesn’t come until March 2021, during which both teams will begin qualifying campaigns for the 2022 World Cup. If Low wants to have any chance of convincing Musiala to play for Die Mannschaft, though, he won’t want to wait too long to call him and have those discussions.

Of course, Musiala has dual citizenship and eligibility to play for both England and Germany because he was born in Stuttgart, but moved to England with his parents when he was seven years old. His mother is German and his father is Nigerian.

Musisla himself has not yet made a final decision on where he wants to commit his future, but there’s an understanding that Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic might pull some weight in Musiala’s decision because he played a big part in getting the 17-year old to join Bayern from Chelsea’s youth academy. The move came after Bayern’s lengthy pursuit of Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi fell through for a number of different reasons, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because Musiala has had a bright start to this season at Bayern. So far, he’s scored 3 goals from 14 appearances with the senior squad, one of which came in Bayern’s thrilling 3-3 draw with RB Leipzig at the beginning of December.

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