Woeful West Ham form has cost Thilo Kehrer his Germany place as manager Hansi Flick gives £10m man a giant slap in the face.
If one West Ham player other than Declan Rice looked an absolute shoo-in to start for their country at the World Cup it was Kehrer.
Germany boss Flick had used Kehrer more than any other player since taking over from Joachim Low.
Kehrer started Germany’s last international match against Oman at centre-back. And the game before that – a 3-3 draw with England – he started at right-back.
Woeful West Ham form costs Thilo Kehrer his Germany place as manager gives £10m man a giant slap in the face
But Flick has dropped him for Germany’s World Cup opener against Japan.
In many ways it is not a huge surprise. After impressing initially when signing for the Hammers, Kehrer has been extremely erratic and inconsistent as West Ham went into the World Cup break just one point off the bottom three.
Kehrer has been described as ‘woeful’ by Matchday 365 who revealed he has made FIVE errors which have directly resulted in goals for the opposition since joining West Ham – the most in the Premier League.
Woeful West Ham form has cost Kehrer his Germany place as his manager gives the £10m man a giant slap in the face.
Quite literally. Because Flick has instead elected to play 6ft 5in, 15.5 stone giant centre-back Niklas Sule at right-back instead of Kehrer.
Ally McCoist was co-commentator for the game, which Germany were winning 1-0 at half-time. And the Scottish legend, a good friend of West Ham boss David Moyes, remarked that he was surprised to see Sule playing out there as ‘the biggest right-back he has ever seen’.
It is not a good look for West Ham, Moyes or Kehrer that a player who was effectively a mainstay of the national side has lost his place after joining the Hammers.
Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen have lost their places in the Algeria and England setups, although Benrahma did feature in a recent friendly match.
Kurt Zouma was a regular in the France squad but lost his place in the setup after joining West Ham. That was before he ensured he would never be recalled as a result of the cat kicking scandal.
Gianluca Scamacca was the main starting forward for a new-look Italy under Roberto Mancini but he too has lost his starting place in recent internationals.
And one gets the feeling Lucas Paqueta’s starting spot in the Brazil side could have been under threat as a result of his struggles to adapt to Moyes’ negative approach at West Ham.