61.29 % of fans are in favour of the idea of naturalising Mathys Tel

The problems at striker for the German national team cannot be ignored. After years of lacking a real "nine", Niclas Füllkrug is now coming into his own, but even he cannot fill the huge hole in this position on his own. DFB sports director Rudi Völler said that he could imagine naturalising the talented French striker Mathys Tel from FC Bayern so that he would be eligible to play for Germany's national team. With this in mind, FanQ wanted to know from the fans in Germany what they thought of his idea.

Is the need really that great?

First of all, however, Rudi Völler also wanted to emphasise the potential of the strikers that the new national coach Julian Nagelsmann has already nominated for the national team. He said on Sunday on "Bild Live": "Thank God Niclas Füllkrug scored a great goal yesterday. Kevin Behrens is included for the first time, which he deserves thanks to his performance in the first games of the season." Nevertheless, the striker position has long been a critical issue, as Julian Nagelsmann simply cannot rely on the same level of quality at striker as in the other positions. The upcoming trip to the USA is of course a good opportunity for this, Nagelsmann will certainly be able to get a first impression of his attacking players. Rudi Völler addressed this problem directly: "We all know that we don't have as many top centre forwards as we did five, ten or 15 years ago," and continued: "We certainly won't have an abundance of them in the next three, four or five years either."

You want your vote to count too? Vote here!

To counter this problem, the DFB sports director has an abstruse idea: he suggests naturalising the 18-year-old Frenchman. "Of course he's a great striker. Incidentally, he has also performed really well at Bayern. You could certainly give it a try," said the 63-year-old, explaining his thought process. However, he immediately qualified this at the same time: "But in the end, it's the player himself who decides - and of course his family. You shouldn't underestimate that. The roots are very French after all." The whole issue got rolling in the first place because Tel had not yet been given a chance with the "Equipe Tricolor". He was not invited to play for either the U21s or the senior national team; the youngster was only nominated for the U19s. This fact is the reason for the idea of naturalisation, as Tel has not yet played a senior international match and a transfer to the DFB would therefore still be possible. What would complicate the whole process considerably, however, is the fact that you can only be naturalised in Germany once you have spent six years in the country. As Mathys Tel only moved to Bayern from France in 2022, there is still a long way to go before enough time has passed for a hypothetical naturalisation. In this context, FanQ wanted to know from the fans whether they agree with the idea of naturalisation. The results show that over half of those surveyed (61.29 %) support Rudi Völler's proposal and would like to see the 18-year-old Tel in the German national jersey. On the other hand, just under a third of respondents (29.03 %) reject the idea of a move to the DFB and the associated naturalisation and do not believe that this scenario could be realised.