"A situation nobody would wish on anyone." That was how Germany national team manager Jürgen Klopp described the current situation of Jamal Musiala, speaking on the sidelines of the Bundesliga's opening day this Friday. Klopp watched on at the Allianz Arena as Bayern Munich thrashed their guests Stuttgart 5-1.
Musiala, 23, has been through recent health troubles, and those prompted Klopp to reach out to him.
The German manager explained his approach: "I sent him a voice message. Because he doesn't even know me, and therefore doesn't have my number. If I had called him, I would have kept phoning him for three days, and I don't think he would have answered."
Musiala, who has 46 international caps with Germany, replied quickly to the voice message.
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As for the content, Klopp said it was of course a message of encouragement to "a young man like Jamal", adding in comments to"Sky Sport Germany": "In the end everything will be fine, almost everyone agrees on that, but not at this moment."
He went on: "I wanted at least to take away from him this one worry: will it have any effect (on his standing with the Germany national team)? And that of course does not exist. More than that I cannot take away from him. He has returned to peak fitness, and that was confirmed to me by Vincent Kompany (Bayern's manager). His physical condition is exceptional."
"The need for patience"
For Klopp, it now comes down to patience. As he put it: "We must give him the time he needs, and he must give it to himself too. Because young players, in truth, have no problems except that they become impatient. And at a stage like this you certainly must not lose patience."
The manager added: "But I think he is at the perfect club and in the perfect environment. We want to contribute to this perfect environment and simply say: my boy, get well! After that the door is open (to join the Germany national team)."
Klopp names his first international squad on 17 September, before Germany gather to prepare for the start of the UEFA Nations League. They face the Netherlands on 24 September, then Greece on 27 September, and Serbia on 1 October, before meeting Greece again on 4 October.
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