Report: Mats Hummels to be left out of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers

Former Bayern Munich and German national team defender, Mats Hummels will have to wait for the time being before reuniting with his old mentor in Hansi Flick. The 32-year-old central defender missed Flick’s first phase of games as national coach due to a knee injury. Per a report by Sport1, Hummels is set to miss the upcoming World Cup qualifier,s but that does not rule out his return to Die Mannschaft.

Hummels was having issues with his knee in August that saw him miss the qualifiers against Liechtenstein, Armenia and Iceland. Germany didn’t miss him too much as they thumped all three teams while maintaining three clean sheets in the process. However, Flick’s style of play tends to be vulnerable to defensive issues and veteran leadership such as Hummels’ is vital.

We all saw how Joachim Low’s complete culling of seniors in key positions jeopardised his plans that relied only on young players barring a few seniors. Taking into picture the current shortage of talent in the backline, Hummels would be an invaluable addition regardless of his minutes on the pitch. It therefore could be the case that Flick just wants to give Hummels more time to recuperate and stick with his current crop against Romania and North Macedonia.