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CLUB INTEREST CLASH WITH NATIONAL INTEREST IN GERMANY AS MUNICH PLAYERS THREATEN BOYCOTT

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Former World Cup holders, Germany may be heading towards internal crisis as players of one of the Bundesliga clubsides, Bayern Munich have threatened to boycott national call-ups.

The bone of contention is the cold war betweenManuel Neuer, a goalkeeper of Bayern and his opposite number in Barcelona, Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Bayern players therefore threatened to boycott the German national team if Coach Joachim Low drops their  goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer for Stegen who has become frustrated with lack of game time.

Neuer and German goalkeeping rival Marc-Andre ter Stegen have been involved in a petty war of words recently over the No 1 spot, with the latter becoming frustrated with a lack of game time.

Manuel Neuer has been involved in a petty war of words with Marc-Andre ter Stegen

According to Daily Mail, Bayern president Uli Hoeness has got involved in the debate, threatening to stop players from Germany’s biggest club joining up with the national team if Low decides to replace Neuer with Ter Stegen between the sticks. 

Ter Stegen has become frustrated at his lack of game time for the German national team

‘Before that takes place, we won’t be sending any more national players,’ the Bayern president told Sport Bild after the Champions League match against Red Star Belgrade.

‘We will never accept that there will be a change here,’ he added. 

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However, the Bavarian president has rejected the chance to hold a conversation with Low in the future if the opportunity arises: ‘He’ll already hear what we’ve said, his ears will ring.’ 

Bild recently confronted German national team manager Oliver Bierhoff with Hoeness’ controversial statements, which left the former less than impressed.

When asked if he was afraid of a potential Bayern boycott, Bierhoff replied: ‘No, because a club is obligated to release its players for international duty as per FIFA regulations.’

Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen believes he should be starting for Germany and claims people can’t expect him to be ‘happy about it’.

Hoeness recently shared his thoughts on the situation, backing Bayern’s goalkeeper by claiming Ter Stegen ‘doesn’t have a right to play there’.  

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And now Hoeness expects the German national team to put the Barcelona shot-stopper in his place: ‘You put Mr Ter Stegen in the corner and tell him clearly that it doesn’t work like that’. 

A potential Bayern boycott could lead to a real selection headache for Low, who has heavily relied on the likes of Serge Gnabry, Niklas Sule and Joshua Kimmich recently in his young squad. 

Low has previously dropped some of Bayern’s biggest stars from the national team, discarding Jerome Boateng, Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels, who now plays for rivals Borussia Dortmund. 

Low has recently been planning for the future following a dismal defence at the 2018 World Cup, as well as struggling in the Nations League

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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