The 38-year-old criticised the lack of genuine leaders with edge and character in new Germany coach Jürgen Klopp's XXL squad of 44 players, backing the much-discussed view of former manager Oliver Bierhoff. Kruse also questioned whether the 31-year-old Bayern Munich professional is suited to a leadership role despite wearing the captain's armband: "For me, Joshua Kimmich is not a leader-type player either, despite wearing the armband at Bayern."
He explained his view by setting out what leadership on the pitch means to him. "Leadership is not shown only through the captain's armband and hard challenges, leadership is so much more. For me, Kimmich is not the right man for it," made clear the 14-cap international.
For Kruse, the make-up of the current national team is the main issue. The DFB squad lacks distinctive characters, "because everything has been smoothed over".
Getty ImagesWhere does Jürgen Klopp plan to use Joshua Kimmich in the DFB team?
Despite the public debate, Germany coach Klopp is planning firmly around Kimmich as a central leader and wants to use him in his preferred position. At the World Cup, the Munich player still had to fill in at right-back out of necessity, but now he is set to organise the defensive midfield again.
"We see him as a midfielder," Klopp made clear. "We have not had a single conversation in which we spoke about him as a right-back."
Still, the Germany coach also laid down demands for his captain ahead of the upcoming tasks. "Stability comes only from the defence, from how you work defensively - and for that I need every single one. Now it is about us buying into that. That applies to Jo just as much as to everyone else," Klopp underlined as he announced his squad.