Jurgen Klopp's agent has ruled out the Liverpool boss leaving his current role to replace Hansi Flick as Germany's national team manager.
Die Mannschaft have endured an awful recent spell of form under Flick, winning just four of their last 16 games. While they have already qualified for Euro 2024 by virtue of being hosts, the dreadful run has sparked panic among some in the German FA.
Germany have been humiliatingly knocked out of the last two World Cups at the group stage and were dumped out of Euro 2020 at the last 16 stage by England. Given the Euros will mark a decade since their last international trophy, it is a hoodoo they are trying to bury.
Flick was meant to be the man to end it, but his treble win at Bayern Munich looks now to be a rare bright spot in his management career. He is now coming under increasing pressure, with Klopp the man many hope will replace him.
The Reds boss has been the most successful German manager in living memory, winning the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Bundesliga during spells with Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.
But Klopp's agent has now played down suggestions that he could leave Anfield to take Flick's job. Mark Kosicke told BILD: "Jürgen has a long-term contract with the LFC and the DFB has a national coach, so it's not an issue for us."
While Klopp is considered the ideal candidate, German FA president Bernd Neuendorf and sporting director Rudi Voller are continuing to back Flick. But German icon Didi Hamann believes the time is right to make a change, whether Klopp is available or not.
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"The danger that this will go wrong with him is so great that you have to act now. It's going in the wrong direction at a huge pace. [He has] lost the trust of the players," the former Liverpool star told Sky Germany.
"If it's right in the team, then the boys do it themselves, because they say: 'We'll go through fire for him'. That's not the case at the moment. We've been muddling around for years and think we're the best and greatest.
"But the fact is that we've fallen so far behind. It can't get any worse than it is at the moment, which is why I would also greet Julian Nagelsmann with a kiss on the hand."
Only Erich Ribbeck, who won just 10 of his 24 games in charge, has a worse record as Germany manager than Flick. And the former Bayern boss has admitted this is the most difficult period of his career.
"Of course, it's a situation for me that I've never experienced in this form before. I really, really enjoy winning games. And I really hate losing. I have said that I will go down this path uncompromisingly in June," he said after Tuesday's defeat to Colombia.
"I can train with the best players in Germany. I have a super team around me. I just enjoy preparing a team for a tournament. If we put it in a nutshell, it went wrong. What we tried didn't work out in this form."
