Jamal Musiala had his heart set on playing for England before a meeting with a man who changed his career trajection, according to a report.
The midfielder has taken Euro 2024 by storm as he continues to impress for Germany, his country of birth, in their home Championship as they bid to win the title for the fourth time.
He has come into his own in recent years at club level with Bayern Munich, and is targeting international success too, though it could have been a whole different story if it wasn’t for the intervention.
Musiala, formerly of Southampton and Chelsea in England, he represented England at Under-15 level, then Germany at Under-16 level, then England again at Under-16, Under-17 and Under-21 levels.
According to The Sun, he was ready to commit to representing the Three Lions before then-Germany boss Joachim Low persuaded him to change his mind.
Andrew Martin, a fomrer coach of Musiala, reportedly told the source: ‘It was always going to be England. He felt more at home there, he played for Chelsea and there were other Chelsea boys in the England squad, and he knew others from playing on the academy circuit.
‘I remember at the time Jamal went to meet Jogi Low and the academy director at Bayern. They made a clear pathway of how he would get into the Bayern first team and the German first team.
‘I think once you meet the first-team manager as a 16, 17-year-old, I think your decision is made for you. That’s pretty impressive that they made the time to do that.
‘He wanted it to be England but then it was the move to Germany that swayed everything, with the help of Low and the help of the Bayern set-up.’
Musiala hasn’t looked back since, announcing in February 2021 that he had chosen to represent Germany, making his debut for the senior team a month later in a 2022 World Cup qualifier against Iceland.
Low, meanwhile, left his role as Germany manager in 2021 after 15 years in the role, in which he won the World Cup with his side in Brazil in 2014.
He had also coached the likes of Stuttgart – where Musiala was born – and Fenerbahce before taking on the Germany job.
Musiala qualified to play for England through his father.
He became the youngest German player to feature in a major tournament when he featured at Euro 2020 – in 2021 – at 18 years and 117 days old, and now, at 21, he is a key member of Julian Nagelsmann’s side.
Starting all three games for his side so far, he has netted twice in his attacking midfield role at the current Euros, and will hope he be in similar form when his side take on Denmark in the last-16 on Saturday night.
He has played 32 times for Germany in total, scoring four goals.
Musiala came up against England for the first time in the last-16 at Euro 2020, coming off the bench as his former nation won 2-0 at Wembley.
He would then play against the Three Lions twice in the Nations League, first in a 1-1 draw in June 2022 and then in a 3-3 draw in September that year.
All was not lost for England, however, with Jude Bellingham, Musiala’s former team-mate in the England youth ranks, now starring for the side.
