"What a mess": A DFB player learned from the media that he would not be travelling to the World Cup

At a press conference, Nagelsmann reiterated his stance on the squad-selection process. The 38-year-old had called every player in advance to explain that they were under consideration, and he also broke the news to the World Cup hopefuls who ultimately missed the cut.

The approach drew some criticism, as numerous names had already been leaked in the days leading up to last Thursday's announcement. "Of course, I could sit down, roll out a piece of paper and say, 'Right, these are the players.' That would, of course, prevent it from appearing in the media beforehand," Nagelsmann said. But he "doesn't care" about that.

He places greater value on "staying in touch with the players and explaining why things are the way they are. The right approach is to inform the players personally – whether the news is good or bad."

He added, "Normally the story breaks in the media only after the players are briefed. There was one exception: the news appeared before I could call him. That is a mess—above all for the player." Although he declined to name the omitted player, he stressed, "For the player, it was a mess."

He added, "I can't control what the media write, but I believe you should always speak to every player first."

He added that he did not care how other nations handled such situations, and the only real issue with his approach was "this leaking, but it didn't particularly bother me personally."

As an example, he cited Fiorentina defender Robin Gosens, who was not selected: "I rang him up, and I think that's important too. He'll now be a TV pundit at the World Cup, and I think it's important to tell the players the reasons and that we'll continue to work well together."