Joshua Kimmich fine with Julian Nagelsmann keeping Ilkay Gündogan Germany captain

Joshua Kimmich is no stranger to wearing the captain’s armband for both Bayern Munich and Germany, but for the national team, even when Manuel Neuer is not in the squad, Julian Nagelsmann has opted to make FC Barcelona’s Ilkay Gündogan as captain of Die Mannschaft. He is one of the most senior players in the squad and has been Nagelsmann’s choice ever since he took over the reigns as German national team manager and Kimmich recently said that he has zero problems with that decision.

Per Abendzeitung’s Maximilian Koch (via @iMiaSanMia), Bayern’s No. 6 did not have any bad feelings about Nagelsmann choosing Gündogan to be the captain, even though Kimmich is well within his rights to feel he is one of the top candidates for the honor. When he is fully fit and in the squad, the armband usually goes to Neuer, but he has been out for so long and is not in the squad for the upcoming pair of friendlies, but that could change before next summer’s European Championships.

As far as Kimmich’s position, there had been talk of him possibly returning to the right back spot, but Nagelsmann has confirmed that he plans on getting him in midfield. That goes for now up until next summer’s Euros.

For next summer when the tournament comes, Nagelsmann’s plan is to have Kimmich play alongside Gündogan in midfield. This would be similar to the role Kimmich usually occupies at Bayern, most often alongside Leon Goretzka, who would seemingly be the odd man out for Germany with Nagelsmann’s midfield plans for the Euros.

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