Barcelona star Ilkay Gundogan has been criticised for his role as Germany captain in 2023.
Gundogan has established himself as a key part of the Barcelona starting XI following his summer free transfer move from Manchester City.
The former Borussia Dortmund schemer captained City to a historic treble, at the end of the 2022/23 campaign, on the back of continuing to wear the armband for his national team.
Germany have struggled to recover from their group stage exit at the 2022 World Cup ahead of hosting Euro 2024 next summer.
Hansi Flick has been replaced as a head coach by Julian Nagelsmann with the latter confirming Gundogan would remain as his captain.
Gundogan’s leadership is viewed as essential by Nagelsmann, with a host of emerging young talented players at his disposal, alongside a limited amount of experience in the squad.
Hoeever, Nagelsmann’s loyalty to Gundogan has drawn a fierce criticism from former Germany international Dietmar Hamann, who claimed it is a real problem in the camp.
“It’s a mistake for Nagelsmann to keep Gündogan as captain. We (Germany) are not as dominant in games as Manchester City”, as per reports from Diario Sport.
“He was able to play to his strengths at City.
“If we add it up, perhaps ten of his 70 international matches have been good. If he’s captain you lose options . He needs to play further forward, but we have Musiala and Wirtz, and they have to play. “