Klopp Leaves Undav Out of Germany Squad – Fitness Concerns

Deniz Undav is not in Jürgen Klopp’s first Germany squad, but this is no changing of the guard. Not yet.

According to Bild, Klopp still counts the 30-year-old VfB Stuttgart striker as part of his plans for the national team. The two have already sat down face to face in Stuttgart to talk through the future. No rift, no loss of faith – just a body that isn’t right.

His omission, the report stresses, is down purely to fitness.

Undav has been wrestling with stubborn Achilles tendon problems for weeks. The issue has shaped his start to the new Bundesliga season: he was forced off early in each of Stuttgart’s first two league games, and in the 2-1 defeat at TSG Hoffenheim at the weekend he only came on as a substitute.

The result is a curious split in his form line. In the Bundesliga, he is still waiting for his first goal involvement of the campaign. In knockout football, he’s already back in the numbers. Undav delivered two assists in the DFB Cup win over Hansa Rostock and repeated the trick with another two in the Champions League victory against Viking Stavanger. The instincts are there. The legs are lagging behind.

Klopp now expects Undav to use the coming international break not as a stage, but as a rehab block – time to get his body back to full sharpness for club and, eventually, country.

From World Cup bright spot to enforced pause

The timing is cruel for a striker who only just forced his way into the national conversation in emphatic style.

Last season, Undav finished as the highest-scoring German striker across all competitions, hitting 25 goals and laying on 14 assists for Stuttgart. While others faded at the World Cup in North America, he emerged as one of the few positives in a bruising campaign, making his impact as a super sub in a largely underwhelming Germany side.

He even earned a start in the round-of-32 tie against Paraguay, though he remained ineffective in that game as Germany crashed out. The broader picture still flatters him: 13 caps, nine goals. A striker who proved he can translate club form to the international stage.

That is the player Klopp believes he still has – once the Achilles allows it.

Stuttgart’s mixed fortunes in Klopp’s first list

Undav is not the only Stuttgart name missing.

Angelo Stiller and Jamie Leweling, both 25 and both part of Germany’s World Cup squad, have also been left out of Klopp’s first selection. Three World Cup participants from one club, all on the outside looking in for the start of a new era.

Stuttgart are still represented, though. Finn Jeltsch (20), Maximilian Mittelstädt (29), Josha Vagnoman (25) and Chris Führich (28) have all made the cut and will report for duty under the new national coach.

So Undav stays home. He rests, he rehabs, he waits.

If his body finally falls into line with his numbers from last season, the question won’t be why Klopp left him out now – it will be how long Germany can afford to be without him.