Kimmich: “Quality is available with us”

Joshua Kimmich believes that the newly formed German national team will once again be able to do great things in the near future. “I see guys trying to get titles, hungry and greedy to rip something here. We became U19 European Champion, U21 European Champion, even if I wasn’t there, we won the Confed Cup. Everyone can see that quality is present in our generation,” Kimmich told the FAZ.

The Bayern Munich professional called it a “huge opportunity” for his age group to show this quality “in the senior national team as well. And we need to take more responsibility for that. If we lose games, we can’t say anymore: “The others have more international games, they’re more experienced, I’ll hide a bit.”

The strong first half at 3:2 at the start of the European Championship qualification in the Netherlands showed that Kimmich and Co. could “beat anyone with this quality”. Due to the drop in performance after the page change, however, he had to state that the rejuvenated team still had “many steps” to take, said Kimmich.

The 24-year-old welcomes the fact that he can now play in defensive midfield under national coach Joachim Löw after his start as right-back. When Löw informed him of his plans last year, his heart was opened, Kimmich said: “This is the position from which I come, where I prefer to play, where I can bring the most mentality and communication to the pitch. And on which I can also exert more influence.”