Oliver Kahn does not like one sentence from Jürgen Klopp: “You shouldn’t say that in public” | Goal.com

Published on 05 Oct 2026 | Reading time: 2 minutes

"Jürgen Klopp also said an interesting sentence about Kimmich: 'I also want to see the team without the alpha male for once.' Personally, I don't find that statement particularly positive from Joshua Kimmich's point of view," former Bayern chief Kahn told RTL/Sky Sport during the debate over the Germany captaincy that flared up around the most recent Nations League matches.

So what was Klopp expressing with that sentence? "He wants to see whether a certain personality might possibly hold a team back. And that does actually happen," Kahn explained, before adding in Klopp's direction: "You shouldn't say something like that publicly because in a certain way you discredit the player."

Kimmich was only named by the new Germany coach for the first part of the XXL squad comprising 44 players. After the second game, the disappointing 1-0 defeat against Greece, Kimmich, like numerous other players, left and had to watch the two further matches against Serbia (2-0) and in Greece (0-0) from the sofa.

Kimmich made no secret of the fact he would have very much liked to stay with the Germany team. Klopp's decision to voluntarily do without the captain for part of the first steps of the rebuild was, at times, seen by the wider public as quite surprising.

Then came the performances. As the German midfield in the win against Serbia and in the very convincing first-half display in the draw in Greece performed significantly better without Kimmich than it had in the 1-1 draw in the Netherlands and in the first leg against the Greeks (0-1) with him, it sparked a debate over whether the Bayern star should continue to be untouchable in the national team.

When asked about it at the press conference before the return match in Greece, Klopp reacted irritably: "I give up. Officially. Already. Do what you want," he said. Kimmich's FCB team-mates Tom Bischof and Aleksandar Pavlovic as well as Liverpool's Florian Wirtz had been "top" against Serbia, he said. "But now imagine if we had exactly three midfield players in Germany. How shit would that be? Exactly three! Of course we need more," Klopp pointed out. He also stressed: "I'm happy that Joshua Kimmich is a Germany international - and so is everyone else."

November brings the next internationals for Kimmich and Co. In the final two Nations League group matches, Germany are away to Serbia (13 November) and then at home in Berlin against the Netherlands (16 November).

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