The national team head coach is not planning to call an experienced duo back into the international fold unless an emergency situation arises
Germany coach Joachim Low says he will stick to his guns over omitting Bayern Munich stars Thomas Muller and Jerome Boateng from his squad.
Muller and Boateng racked up 176 caps between them for Germany before being axed from the team in March 2019.
Both men played key roles in their country’s run to World Cup glory in 2014, and have played together at club level for Bayern for almost a decade.
They were part of the side which stormed to an unprecedented treble under Hansi Flick last season, leading to calls for them to be reinstated in Low’s national set-up.
Muller, who turned 31 in September, has been a standout player for Bayern once again at the start of the 2020-21 campaign, scoring four goals and laying on five assists in seven Bundesliga appearances to help Flick’s side return to the top of the table.
Boateng has also featured prominently, but he and his Allianz Arena team-mate were both left out of Germany’s squad once again ahead of fixtures against the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Spain this month.
Germany haven’t been the force of old in the absence of the Bayern duo and Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels, but Low has no plans to go back on his initial decision, despite still being a keen admirer of all three players.
“We basically decided not to pick these players, nothing has changed that now,” the 60-year-old head coach told Kicker.
“We can’t go back now. They are great players with class.
“If a completely new situation arises for us next year due to the failure of key players, I will evaluate it accordingly and think about alternative scenarios.”
Germany will play host to the Czech Republic in a friendly clash on Wednesday before preparing for a return to UEFA Nations League action three days later against Ukraine.
Low’s men are currently sitting second in League A, Pool 4 on six points behind Spain, who they will take on next Tuesday in a game which could go a long way to deciding who wins the group.
One man who will be unavailable for all three games is Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich, with the 25-year-old expected to be out of action until January after suffering a serious knee injury in a 3-2 win over Dortmund on Saturday.
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