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Metro
2 days ago
- Sport
- Metro
Liverpool need to avoid Wirtz-case scenario and buck German trend
Florian Wirtz looks set to be the marquee signing of the Premier League summer but if Liverpool's intended attacking recruit is to live up to his immense potential and lofty fee he is going to be bucking a trend. Because while German football has produced multiple World Cup titles and Champions League-winning clubs and a host of elite players in every era of the game, the record of Germans in England's top flight is a sketchy one. It began with a splash with Spurs' bold signing of Jurgen Klinsmann in 1994 and continues with Liverpool's showstopping pursuit of Wirtz but the impact of German players on the Premier League barely registers on the stats sheet with, perhaps fittingly, the most successful and enduring success stories on English soil known more for their solid and dependable qualities. If you scan down the list of all-time Premier League goalscorers you'll find our first German at 155th, alongside Robbie Earle and Ayoze Perez on 45 – one shy of Jay Rodriguez. Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro's Football Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we'll send you so we can get football news tailored to you. That the player in question is Ilkay Gundogan speaks more to the Manchester City man's longevity than his attacking prowess. Gundogan, incidentally, is fourth on the all-time list for appearances by a German, behind only the prosaic talents of former Stoke and Leicester defender Robert Huth, Champions League winner Dietmar Hamann and unsung Brighton midfielder Pascal Gross. Former Arsenal schemer Mesut Ozil, with 54, has the most assists of any German but is 39th on the all-time list. By contrast there are two Spaniards (David Silva and Cesc Fabregas), a Belgian (Kevin De Bruyne) and a Dutchman (Dennis Bergkamp) in the top ten, while Argentina, Egypt and France all feature in the equivalent list of top scorers. In all, 135 players have managed 50 Premier League goals and none of them are German. Liverpool will expect Wirtz to change that and trouble Ozil's assists mark to get a good return on their investment. Jurgen Klinsmann was one of the biggest names in the game when he rocked up at Spurs, perhaps the first overseas glamour signing of the new competition. He was 30 but, with 20 goals in 41 games, the 1990 World Cup winner showed he was still in his prime and lived up to the hype. Klinsmann left after a year, only to return in his mid-30s, nine goals in 15 games helping to save Spurs from relegation and pushing his overall tally to 29 – still good for tied-fifth with Uwe Rosler (another hugely successful 1990s import) on the all-time list of German goalscorers. Wirtz is not the first wunderkind to head to England. Michael Ballack was 29 when he swapped Bayern Munich for Chelsea in 2006. The commanding midfielder had played in World Cup and Champions League finals but, despite a league title and three FA Cups there was always a suspicion Ballack left his best stuff in Bavaria. Leroy Sane was only 20 when Manchester City paid Schalke £46m for his speedy wing play in 2016 but he was back in the Bundesliga by 2020, his potential never quite fully realised. The same could not be said of Mesut Ozil, a bona-fide galactico and soon-to-be World Cup winner when Arsenal teased him away from Real Madrid in 2013. A fan favourite who more than lived up to the hype, the mercurial playmaker's eight-year stay was a game of two halves, the brilliance of the early years partly overshadowed by the diminished returns and exile of his final seasons. A decade after Ballack left and seven years after signing Andre Schurrle – who won the World Cup and Premier League as a Chelsea player but never really took off – the Blues opted for two more expensive German punts. Timo Werner, 24 at the time, cost almost £50m from RB Leipzig but returned to his former club for half the price after ten goals in 56 league games. Last season, still only 29, he could not get a game on loan at Tottenham. Later in 2020 Chelsea paid Bayer Leverkusen upwards of £60m for a 21-year-old Kai Havertz who repaid their faith with a winning goal in the Champions League final and produced a small profit when sold to Arsenal three years later. A popular and key figure at the Emirates, Havertz has nevertheless failed to top his highest tally of 17 Bundesliga goals in a season in his five years in England and remains a positional enigma. While German footballers have made a significant contribution to the Premier League, there is enough evidence to suggest the brightest young signings often struggle to fulfil their potential. More Trending Whereas Spain, France, Belgium, Brazil, the Netherlands, Argentina and Portugal have produced some of the finest players to have graced these shores, Germany ranks alongside Italy as a footballing superpower that has yet to fully crack the competition. Former Germany boss Joachim Low said this week he was surprised Wirtz, who scored his seventh goal for Germany against Portugal in midweek, has chosen Liverpool for the next step in his career and warns it will be a real test. But has no doubt the 22-year-old will be a hit. 'Liverpool is a real statement because moving to the Premier League involves a lot of adaptation and that starts with the rhythm of the game,' Low told Bild. 'Nevertheless, I have no concerns that Wirtz will prevail – no matter where he would have gone. He plays with a naturalness that can't be coached. He possesses all the skills a footballer needs to be a world-class player.' Over to you, Florian. MORE: Ivan Toney hits back at Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes after Saudi transfer snub MORE: Luis Diaz speaks out after Liverpool reject Barcelona transfer approach MORE: Arsenal eye move for Morgan Rogers and identify cheap Leroy Sane alternative
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Meet the former EFL star who now charges £15,000 as a keynote speaker: Paul McVeigh opens up on 'second life' and reveals how teams can cope with the pressure of a play-off final
Paul McVeigh looked around the Tottenham dressing room for the first time. The Northern Irishman, then 17, saw Sol Campbell, Jurgen Klinsmann and Teddy Sheringham among others. 'I didn't realise I had an inferiority complex,' McVeigh, who moved to England in his teens after growing up in Belfast, tells Mail Sport. 'All these top players, they're all lovely off the pitch so that wasn't the intimidating part. 'It was more the fact that I'd come from Belfast and I was one of only a few in our youth team who wasn't an English lad and assured in their own ability. 'Being around some of the best players in the world was really challenging for me.' A friend then urged McVeigh - who went on to have a hugely impressive career for the likes of Spurs, Luton and Norwich - to read a book on performance psychology and mindset. Awaken The Giant Within by Tony Robbins, a renowned self-help guru, author and motivational speaker, was the recommendation. That 'opened the floodgates' as McVeigh admits, and led him on a journey of discovery. 'Maybe my friend saw something I was lacking,' adds McVeigh, who is intriguing company. 'I then had this real fascination of what is it that people are doing? Why are some people successful and other people aren't? Why isn't talent enough? 'It made me realise we're (footballers) all technically and physically at a level. From my perspective, I was always the smallest player in the team at five foot six, so what could I do to try and get an advantage over these other players?' That journey took McVeigh through a career that saw him represent Northern Ireland 20 times, play in the Premier League and win two titles with Norwich, where he holds legendary status. He retired in 2010 at the age of 32 after Norwich won League One in an attempt to finish on a high and also start his 'second life'. McVeigh, who is the first Premier League footballer to secure a Masters degree in psychology, is now one of the most respected keynote speakers and performance psychologists around. Such has his success been that the 47-year-old charges £15,000 per speech and possesses blue-chip clients including PWC, Microsoft, Investec and KPMG. 'It really does come down to the limits we place on ourselves,' adds McVeigh, who also works with one Championship club. 'That's one of the things that I talk about with my corporate clients. 'In that world, like the football world, there's a huge emphasis on technical quality to do the role. If you ask any player or coach, what do they spend 95 per cent of their time on? It's training and reinforcing technical and physical aspects, but the psychological aspect, how much time are players working on that? 'In my experience of having been in this world for 30 years, very little, if not nothing at all and it's the single greatest area of improvement and it's also the greatest point of differentiation. 'The same thing applies in the corporate world. If you have a brilliant accountant who's physically capable of doing the job, what's the difference? Why is one firm better than the other? 'And again it comes back to psychology. And all of these things are so far down the pecking order in an organisation and I'm constantly trying to bump it up and get it to the top.' The £15,000 McVeigh, who is also an author, is able to charge is an eye-watering figure, but again it has all developed as a result of his mindset. 'When I stopped playing I went on a course in America and I was learning how to deliver a keynote speech from a guy who was at the time charging $10,000 an hour,' he explains. 'I'd never been paid one pound to speak in public, and I was learning from a guy who charged them $10,000 an hour! So you can see how my belief would be like, how is that possible? $10,000 an hour? That is something I'd love to do one day.' McVeigh's first booking raked in £3,000 after he was initially unsure on what to charge. 'After that, I was like 'now I'm a three grand an hour speaker'. That was my figure through that first year and suddenly I became quite confident. 'I felt like my beliefs were growing, I liked what I was doing. And of course, I'm trying to put up my fee, and it goes up to £3,500. 'Then I got my Masters in psychology so I thought maybe I should put my fee up again. And then again, it keeps going up based on my self-belief and the companies I work for. So I'm constantly challenging my limited beliefs and what I think I'm worth.' McVeigh, who also has a degree in sports science, readily admits psychology and mindset was never a priority for clubs during his playing days and he went above and beyond to focus on his own headspace. The psychology departments clubs now possess are significantly larger than ever before, and McVeigh is full of belief that the footballing world has so much to share with the business world. They are likely to be hard at work ahead of a bumper Bank Holiday weekend of EFL play-off finals, matches that have so much riding on them. McVeigh was on the losing side in 2002 when Norwich lost the Division One final to Birmingham on penalties, although he quips it was probably his best ever game for the Canaries. So, what advice would he have for the six teams stepping out at Wembley over the next few days? 'The problem when it comes to this is players end up playing the occasion and not going out to do what they know they're capable of,' he explains. McVeigh urged those in play-off finals to focus on playing the game rather than the occasion 'That's generally why players get caught up in this situation of either feeling nervous or anxious and it's nothing to do with the game. 'It's more to do with the meaning the player has given to what's happening on the pitch because ultimately, the game is always the same, whether you're in training or in a match. 'Yes there's more riding on it, but I suppose the skillset of a professional is realising they can go in and play games. 'And no matter if it is the biggest moment of their career or a training game, they need to still go and perform at that level.'
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'A game to suffer... worth it for every Spurs fan' - Klinsmann on Europa win
Jurgen Klinsmann, who won two Uefa Cups as a player, has been speaking about his former club's historic night in the Europa is your reaction?"I'm thrilled for Tottenham, I am thrilled after such a long time, I am thrilled for the coach and the fans especially. It is a very prestigious trophy. "We watched it here [at Fifa] as a group of coaches. It has been a game to suffer but it was worth it for every Spurs fan so I am very, very happy for them."You worked with Son Heung-min with South Korea - are you happy for him?"Well, the same happened with Harry Kane pretty much when lifting the German title with Bayern Munich and now Son has lifted the Europa League. It is fantastic. It is what you wish for every player who works hard for their entire career. "I am very, very happy for both of them that they finally have something under their belt."
News.com.au
01-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Germany's 'absolutely insane' second tier rivalling Europe's best
Driven by huge crowds, unpredictable results and some of Germany's biggest clubs including Hamburg and Schalke, the Bundesliga 2 broke through the billion-euro revenue barrier last season to become Europe's wealthiest second division. According to figures from the German Football Leagues (DFL), midway through the 2024-25 season, the second-tier average attendance of 30,329 was greater than the Spanish and French first divisions. La Liga games averaged crowds of 29,875 with those in France's Ligue 1 attracting 27,173 spectators per game. On one matchday in February 2024, the Bundesliga 2 averaged more fans than the German top flight -- the best attended of any football league in the world -- for the first time, a feat which has since been repeated on several occasions. World Cup-winning striker Jurgen Klinsmann played 61 games in the German second division for Stuttgarter Kickers, scoring 22 times, before moving to first-division rivals Stuttgart. Now living in California, Klinsmann still keeps up with the German second division, calling the atmosphere "absolutely insane". "The second Bundesliga is really fun to watch," Klinsmann told AFP from his Los Angeles home. "I watch it quite a lot." - 'Completely unpredictable' - In the 2023-24 season, the total revenue of the 18-team Bundesliga 2 crossed the one billion euro ($1.14 billion) mark for the first time, easily generating more money than any other second-division league. The Championship, the 24-team English second tier, made £749 million (875 million euros) in 2022-23, the last season for which figures are available. With 947 goals scored last season in the German second division, the most in 22 years, fans get plenty of bang for their buck. In the Bundesliga, Bayern are on course for their 12th title in the past 13 seasons. In the Bundesliga 2, there have been 10 different champions in the past decade. Manu Veth, a Canadian-German journalist for Forbes and Transfermarkt, told AFP "the football is very good and the league is completely unpredictable," but also cited structural factors in football-mad Germany. "Germany is Europe's most populous country with the largest economy by a big margin. With just 18 clubs (in the top flight), big clubs from major cities are stuck in the lower divisions." Hamburg and Schalke are joined in the second division by Cologne, Nuremberg, Kaiserslautern, Hertha Berlin, Hannover and Fortuna Duesseldorf -- all former German champions who retain huge followings despite falling on harder times. David Wagner, who coached Norwich City to a Premier League promotion as well as German giants Schalke, said the big names have boosted the second division's popularity. "We've had a Bundesliga 2 season which perhaps we've never had before," Wagner told AFP. "With so many big, big clubs." - 'Enjoy the ride' - Klinsmann said fan loyalty among relegated clubs was also a major factor. "Over the past 10 years, the second league became so interesting and so popular. You have these traditional powerhouses, who for whatever reasons got relegated, which of course is a disaster for them. "But they have a fan base from over 100 years who sticks with them and is there for them. The identification with the teams is still so high, that fans just kind of enjoy the ride in the second Bundesliga." Klinsmann, who also played in England, Italy, France and the United States, said the culture was unique in Germany. "I compare it to the Serie B, the Italian second league, because my son (Jonathan) plays for Cesena," he said. "They also have bigger teams who were in the first (division), but they don't have that fascinating aspect that the stadiums are packed still even if they're one league lower. "But in Germany, the phenomenon is that even if you get relegated, the fans stick with them." Veth agreed. "Fans in Germany are very loyal and they seem to come out in big numbers when clubs need them," he said.
Herald Sun
01-05-2025
- Business
- Herald Sun
Germany's 'absolutely insane' second tier rivalling Europe's best
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. Driven by huge crowds, unpredictable results and some of Germany's biggest clubs including Hamburg and Schalke, the Bundesliga 2 broke through the billion-euro revenue barrier last season to become Europe's wealthiest second division. According to figures from the German Football Leagues (DFL), midway through the 2024-25 season, the second-tier average attendance of 30,329 was greater than the Spanish and French first divisions. La Liga games averaged crowds of 29,875 with those in France's Ligue 1 attracting 27,173 spectators per game. On one matchday in February 2024, the Bundesliga 2 averaged more fans than the German top flight -- the best attended of any football league in the world -- for the first time, a feat which has since been repeated on several occasions. World Cup-winning striker Jurgen Klinsmann played 61 games in the German second division for Stuttgarter Kickers, scoring 22 times, before moving to first-division rivals Stuttgart. Now living in California, Klinsmann still keeps up with the German second division, calling the atmosphere "absolutely insane". "The second Bundesliga is really fun to watch," Klinsmann told AFP from his Los Angeles home. "I watch it quite a lot." - 'Completely unpredictable' - In the 2023-24 season, the total revenue of the 18-team Bundesliga 2 crossed the one billion euro ($1.14 billion) mark for the first time, easily generating more money than any other second-division league. The Championship, the 24-team English second tier, made £749 million (875 million euros) in 2022-23, the last season for which figures are available. With 947 goals scored last season in the German second division, the most in 22 years, fans get plenty of bang for their buck. In the Bundesliga, Bayern are on course for their 12th title in the past 13 seasons. In the Bundesliga 2, there have been 10 different champions in the past decade. Manu Veth, a Canadian-German journalist for Forbes and Transfermarkt, told AFP "the football is very good and the league is completely unpredictable," but also cited structural factors in football-mad Germany. "Germany is Europe's most populous country with the largest economy by a big margin. With just 18 clubs (in the top flight), big clubs from major cities are stuck in the lower divisions." Hamburg and Schalke are joined in the second division by Cologne, Nuremberg, Kaiserslautern, Hertha Berlin, Hannover and Fortuna Duesseldorf -- all former German champions who retain huge followings despite falling on harder times. David Wagner, who coached Norwich City to a Premier League promotion as well as German giants Schalke, said the big names have boosted the second division's popularity. "We've had a Bundesliga 2 season which perhaps we've never had before," Wagner told AFP. "With so many big, big clubs." - 'Enjoy the ride' - Klinsmann said fan loyalty among relegated clubs was also a major factor. "Over the past 10 years, the second league became so interesting and so popular. You have these traditional powerhouses, who for whatever reasons got relegated, which of course is a disaster for them. "But they have a fan base from over 100 years who sticks with them and is there for them. The identification with the teams is still so high, that fans just kind of enjoy the ride in the second Bundesliga." Klinsmann, who also played in England, Italy, France and the United States, said the culture was unique in Germany. "I compare it to the Serie B, the Italian second league, because my son (Jonathan) plays for Cesena," he said. "They also have bigger teams who were in the first (division), but they don't have that fascinating aspect that the stadiums are packed still even if they're one league lower. "But in Germany, the phenomenon is that even if you get relegated, the fans stick with them." Veth agreed. "Fans in Germany are very loyal and they seem to come out in big numbers when clubs need them," he said. "Clubs are community or membership owned. That means they are embedded in the local communities and that creates momentum when times are tough." dwi/mw Originally published as Germany's 'absolutely insane' second tier rivalling Europe's best
