'I would have liked to stay': Kimmich heads home as Klopp sticks to Germany rotation plan

Joshua Kimmich admitted he "would have liked to stay" with Germany for the entirety of the international break, but the captain is heading back to Bayern Munich after being named in only the first of Jurgen Klopp's two squads.

For Klopp's first matches in charge, the new head coach opted to call up 44 players across two squads in order to see as many players as possible during the extended break. Despite being the team captain, Kimmich is not one of those remaining in the squad for the last two games against Serbia and Greece — but the midfielder insists he understands the reasoning.

"I would have liked to stay, but I also understand that the coach wants to get to know some other players," Kimmich said after the loss to Greece. "That was the plan from the beginning: that we would rotate the squads. Accordingly, I'll be cheering the team on from home."

Winless start for Klopp

Klopp remains winless after his first two matches in charge, having conceded a late equaliser to the Netherlands in a 1-1 draw before suffering a shock 1-0 loss to Greece on Sunday.

There is, however, historical context that offers some comfort: Klopp is only the third German head coach to go winless in his first two international matches (D1 L1). Previously, this had only happened to Sepp Herberger and Helmut Schön — and the two later World Cup-winning coaches both went on to win their third international match.

Who stays, who goes

Six of the players from Klopp's first squad will stay on with the second: Finn Dahmen, Nico Schlotterbeck, Philipp Treu, Yannik Engelhardt, Bambase Conte and Serge Gnabry.

Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Burkardt were originally called up for the second squad but arrived earlier than planned to replace the injured Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala.

What's next

Germany's next match is at home to Serbia on Thursday before they round off this block of fixtures with a trip to Greece on October 4. Kimmich, meanwhile, will be watching on from Munich as Klopp continues his squad-wide audition.