Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala is one of the most talented and promising youngsters in world football. Born in Stuttgart Germany to a Nigerian British father and a German mother, Jamal was eligible to play for Nigeria, England, or Germany and he represented both England and Germany in his youth career. In February 2021, the youngster announced that he had decided to represent his birth nation; Germany, at the international level. He subsequently received his first call-up to the German senior team in March 2021 for the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers. He made his debut in the same month as he came on as a substitute in a 3-0 victory over Iceland. The question we want to provide insight into today is how one of the most talented youngsters in the world escaped the grasp of England and chose to represent Germany instead.
Jamal’s family moved to England when he was just seven years old and although he initially struggled with the English language, his talent was evident on the pitch. He was eventually scouted by Chelsea and given a scholarship to develop his talent at the Chelsea academy. Jamal had most of his formative years in football in England with Chelsea. He played with English boys and even represented the country in International competitions up till under 21. His progression was quite similar to another English talent Jude Bellingham and he was supposed to be an important talent for the English senior men’s team. The youngster indicated that he felt more comfortable playing for England as he grew up playing with English boys and he didn’t really know the German players which is perfectly logical since he had his youth career at Chelsea. So what happened?
The answer lies with Bayern Munich and the willingness of Germans to let promising youngsters into the first team. Musiala left the Chelsea academy in 2019 at the age of 16 to join Bayern Munich much like how Jude Bellingham left Birmingham City for Dortmund.
The young talent flourished at Bayern and made his Bundesliga debut for the club just one year later in June 2020 becoming the youngest player to play a match for Bayern in the Bundesliga aged 17 years and 115 days. He continued to rise in the club and has currently become a very important player for them. His time with Bayern Munich made him more comfortable with German football and allowed him to make friends with some teammates who were also on the German national team. The influence of Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Serge Gnabry, and Leroy Sané would definitely factor in his later submission that he now felt more comfortable playing for Germany than England.
German teams, especially Dortmund are known for how easily they can integrate young players into the first-team; something the Premier League isn’t particularly very good at; preferring to buy more developed players and send their promising youngsters on loan; particularly Chelsea. If Jamal had gotten first-team football with Chelsea and remained in England there is a high chance he would have chosen to represent England instead of Germany. England lost him when he decided to move to Bayern from Chelsea.
If Jude Bellingham was eligible for both England and Germany like Jamal, his time playing for Dortmund in Germany would have influenced his decision as well. Moreover, Germany has been more successful in recent times than the English senior men’s team. While England has a promising squad and reached the Euros 2022 finals, any player who wants to win trophies is more likely to choose Germany over England.
The Jamal Musiala case is done and settled. After earning more than three senior caps for Germany; representing them in the Euros and the World Cup, he can no longer switch nationalities. But, it is a lesson to England on how to not lose such great talent to other countries again; especially players with dual nationality eligible to play for another country. The English must be more vigilant in identifying great talent and quick about integrating them into the senior team. It has been done and is still being done in football. Pele played for the Brazil senior team at 17 and now Endrick is doing the same.
Do you think Musiala made the right decision? Do you think Jude Bellingham would have made a similar choice if he had dual citizenship like Jamal?