Hansi Flick replaced Joachim Löw as Germany manager after the last summer’s European championship and Leeds United defender Robin Koch is yet to play for the national team under the new coach.
Löw included the 25-year-old in his squad for Euro 2020 and he finished the tournament without making an appearance. He only featured once for Die Mannschaft in 2021 as an injury ruled him out for the last three international breaks.
Flick is set to announce his squad for the upcoming friendly fixtures against Israel and Netherlands later this month. The Whites centre-back has revealed the ex-Bayern Munich boss was in contact with him when he was out on the sidelines.
“We’ll see about that [selection for March international break] on Friday. I don’t have much time to think about it,” Koch told Sky Deutschland.
”He [Flick] asked me how I was doing. The fact that someone asks questions even in difficult times gives a player a good feeling, especially when they are injured. I was also in contact with the doctors of the national team.”
“Naturally! I want to go back to the national team. For me it’s the greatest thing to play for Germany,” he said.
“When you’ve achieved that, been there and sung the anthem, that’s special. It’s an additional motivation for the training sessions and the games to show up for the national team.”
The ex-Freiburg man was asked whether he plans to return to the Bundesliga in the future. Responding to that, Koch said: ”I’m not really thinking about that at the moment, but I don’t want to rule it out.”
It’s to be noted that Koch has categorically made clear he has no plans to leave Elland Road in the summer.
Although the Germany international remains confident that Leeds will stay in the Premier League, he has stressed he’ll continue at Elland Road, even if they were to drop to the Championship.
Based on Koch’s comments, it is unlikely that a transfer away from Leeds would happen anytime soon.
