Report: Borna Sosa expected to get German passport

According to Sky, the German national team might be getting a new, impactful player into its pool — who was recently linked to Bayern Munich.

VfB Stuttgart defender Borna Sosa his reportedly close to getting his German passport and should be able to play for Die Mannschaft during the next international cycle:

According to Sky information, Stuttgart’s left-back Borna Sosa has been quietly naturalized in the last few weeks and is now supposed to play for Germany. The native Croat should get his German passport as early as next week and is therefore eligible to play for the German national team with immediate effect.

How is this all possible so close to this summer’s European Championships? Well, it all started a couple of generations ago:

This was only possible because Sosa’s mother was born and grew up in Berlin. His grandfather lived in the capital for a long time and ran a construction company there, which is why Sosa was often in Germany as a child. That’s why the defender decided to play in the Bundesliga three years ago even though top clubs from Italy and Spain had knocked on his door.

Like many of Germany’s other options at left-back, Sosa is a more offensively-driven player. Joachim Löw has had a revolving door of players working through the left-back or left wing-back position including Marcel Halstenberg, Robin Gosens , and Philipp Max. Depending what formation Löw ultimately opts to use, Sosa could end up competing for playing time immediately.

Sosa also addresses the issue after VfB Stuttgart’s 2-1 win over FC Augsburg today: