Euro 2024: How Germany can overcome lack of world-class strikers

For generations of football fans, Germany’s major tournament appearances have been led by a prolific forward whose mere presence on the team sheet instilled fear into opposing teams around the world.

In the early 1970s, West Germany’s Gerd Muller led the way, followed by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in the 1970s and 1980s, Rudi Völler until the early 1990s, then Jurgen Klinsmann, and finally Miroslav Klose, who became Germany’s all-time leading scorer.

However, Klose retired from international football in 2014. In the decade since, Germany have had talented forwards, but none as lethal in attack as those mentioned above.

“This means a lot for our country,” former Germany international Steffen Freund told BBC Sport.

“In the past there have always been players who could score goals, like Muller, Klinsmann, Völler and more recently Klose.

“But since Klose we haven’t had a really world-class striker. Maybe that’s why we’re not on top of the world.”

Arsenal’s Kai Havertz is likely to lead the line at this summer’s European Championships, but he is not considered a full-fledged forward in the traditional sense.

So what happened to Germany’s world-class strikers?

Germans have an international record that is the envy of many countries.

They have won the World Cup four times (three as West Germany) and the European Championship three times (twice as West Germany).

However, since winning their fourth title with Brazil in 2014, their performance at major tournaments has been poor, failing to get out of the group stage at the past two World Cups and winning just one match at Euro 2020.

One of the reasons for their decline has been a lack of goals: they have scored just 21 in the four major tournaments they have played in since the 2014 World Cup, compared with 50 in the four tournaments prior to that.

The change in Germany’s playing style can perhaps be traced back to 2010, when Spain won the World Cup using a false nine – a deeper-lying forward – instead of a striker.

Vicente del Bosque’s side beat Joachim Löw’s Germany in the semi-finals, with the German coach praising his opponents’ play and describing them as “masters of the game”.

Low then appeared to follow the Spain blueprint, naming just two forwards for his 2014 World Cup squad – the 36-year-old Klose and Lukas Podolski, then with Arsenal.

During Germany’s run to the final, Löw often preferred to play without a dedicated striker, with Mario Götze regularly taking on the false nine role.

“Rather than picking some random player who might be a good striker but who is basically just going to start because he’s available, Loew tried to take the best players and integrate them into the system,” says German soccer journalist Konstantin Eckner.

“There wasn’t really any plan, it was just something that we had to do.”

It would be easy to suggest that if playing without a pure striker no longer works, why don’t Germany start bringing in strikers again?

However, the problem is that there is a shortage of young people in this country, and the cause of this lies in youth development.

“If you look at the German youth teams, for example the under-19 or under-17 sides of the big Bundesliga clubs, you see a lot of talented wingers and playmakers but not many highly skilled strikers,” Eckner added.

“It’s like when a tall player with poor technique ends up playing as a striker, and then when you move up to the Bundesliga, your limited technique holds you back. It’s really hard to come out of an academy and become a capable Bundesliga striker.”

Germany’s bottom-placed finish in a group with Sweden, Mexico and South Korea at the 2018 World Cup appears to have shocked the country’s decision-makers into action.

Critics of Germany’s youth development system say it has become too rigid and does not give children the freedom to express themselves or just have fun.

Two years ago, the German Football Association announced plans to revamp its youth framework to focus on doing what kids love – scoring goals.

“Playing with the ball and scoring goals are the main reasons why many children and young people enjoy football,” the German Football Association said at the time.

The new format of play introduced featured smaller teams and more touches on the ball, with the aim of improving players’ skills and confidence and reducing the number of children dropping out because they were bored of not taking part.

Professor Matthias Lochmann, a former professional footballer and under-15 coach at Mainz under Jurgen Klopp, has been lobbying hard for such reforms for several years.

In 2018, after Germany’s elimination from the World Cup, he gave a keynote speech on the issue and what needed to be done, catching the eye of Hansi Flick, who was then the sporting director of the German Football Association and would later go on to coach the national team.

“We’ve had very good discussions about it,” Lockman told BBC Sport.

“He always told me that I had to implement all these ideas, the sooner the better.

“He recommended it internally to speed up the process, but his influence was limited.”

While reforms have been implemented at youth level, Lokman feels they have come too late to have an impact on the national team in the medium term, let alone immediately.

“Germany’s early elimination from the last World Cup prompted this innovation,” he added.

“As a German it feels stupid to say this but after the defeat at the European Championships I hope that change will come sooner.”

Havertz, who has had an impressive season with Arsenal, seems the most likely to spearhead Germany’s attack.

The 24-year-old scored 14 goals in all competitions for Arsenal last season.

However, he is also one of those players who started as an attacking midfielder and then transitioned to a centre-forward.

Borussia Dortmund’s Niklas Flukrug is Germany’s only real striker contender. He was the Bundesliga’s top scorer in 2022-23 and scored 15 goals in all competitions last season, but his time on the international stage is already running out.

He won’t make his first-team debut until 2022, is 31 and probably recognises he’s a very good striker, but not world class.

However, they are not players who start at the heart of the attack, but rather they are in the category of highly talented forwards who bring life and tempo to the team.

The question of who should lead Germany at the European Championships has divided opinion among Germany’s supporters.

“Some fans would like to see Furkrug as a more traditional number 9, especially since in some ways he is reminiscent of past number 9s who have brought success to Germany,” Eckner added.

“But some will want a fast player like Havertz up front. Germany excites their fans the most when they play at a fast pace.”

At least at Euro 2024, Germany have the option to make changes to their attack, but fans waiting for the next Muller or Klinsmann may have to wait a while longer.