"Nagelsmann is starting to believe his own hype a bit too much." That's the verdict from Marcus Fjortoft, host of the German Fussball podcast, and it cuts to the heart of why Germany head into this World Cup with an atmosphere that feels more uneasy than excited.
On paper, Germany have genuine quality. Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz, Aleksandar Pavlovic, and teenage Bayern sensation Lennart Karl — who broke Champions League and Bundesliga scoring records at just 17 — give this squad a youthful energy that was almost entirely absent during those embarrassing group stage exits in 2018 and 2022. The semi-final run at Euro 2024, only ended by eventual winners Spain, showed what this group can produce.
But Nagelsmann has spent the months since quietly eroding the goodwill he built up. Nations League defeats to Portugal and France. A qualification campaign Fjortoft describes as "unconvincing." A press conference where he publicly listed all the reasons Denis Undav — the Bundesliga's second-top scorer behind Harry Kane last season — wasn't going to start. He later apologised. The damage was already done.
The striker situation is a real problem
Undav is one of the most clinical finishers in Germany's top flight, yet Nagelsmann keeps gravitating towards Kai Havertz as his central striker. Fjortoft thinks that's actually the right call — "he's a good connector for Germany to utilise" — but the inconsistency in selection and the ham-fisted communication around it has created unnecessary noise in camp.
Newcastle's Nick Woltemade is another option going largely unused. Serge Gnabry is out with an adductor tear, which at least simplifies one selection headache. Leroy Sane made the squad. The spine is there — Antonio Rudiger and Malick Thiaw at the back, the legendary Manuel Neuer returning from international retirement at 40 (two years older than the head coach, a detail that writes its own headline) — but cohesion still feels like a work in progress.
The Klopp factor isn't going away
Jurgen Klopp is sitting in a strategic role at Red Bull, officially removed from club management. Everyone knows that's not a permanent state. Fjortoft is direct about it: "Of course Klopp will have the itch. And when your nation comes calling... there is this inevitability, this romance in the idea of Klopp taking over Germany."
Nagelsmann has signed an extension through Euro 2028, so the door isn't exactly open. But in football, contracts only matter until they don't. If Germany exits early in North America, the conversation accelerates fast. Klopp's name is already being whispered, and Nagelsmann knows it.
"It's hard when you compare yourself to as charismatic a figure as Klopp," says Fjortoft. That comparison isn't going anywhere — it will follow Nagelsmann through every press conference, every rotation decision, every result that doesn't land right.
Fjortoft's realistic ceiling for this Germany side? The quarter-finals. Which means for anyone pricing Germany for a deep run, the numbers probably reflect optimism more than evidence. Wirtz will adapt — Fjortoft is confident on that front, pointing to his performance against Switzerland in the last international break — and Karl's X-factor gives Germany something unpredictable. But "something unpredictable" has a habit of not being enough when it matters most.
"He came up as a 28, 29-year-old coach — a messiah as such," Fjortoft says of Nagelsmann. "He has just to be a bit careful in terms of how he carries himself within the media." That's a polite way of saying the same thing a lot of German fans are thinking.
