Weekly thought: Would Germany advance if Leroy was in the squad?

It caused shockwaves around the football world when Joachim Low omitted Leroy Sane from his final 23-man squad.

The Manchester City forward had been in fine form this season and looked every bit a quality player, consistently demonstrating the potential he promised within the early stages of his career.

Used in a forward wide position by Pep Guardiola, Sane scored ten goals and assisted 15 times for his team to earn rave reviews from pundits, fans and his fellow professionals. It was enough for him to be voted the PFA Young Player of the Year.

Germany were knocked out this week after only being victorious in one game, with the winner coming in the last minute. The defeats were against Mexico and South Korea.

Left out in favour of Julian Brandt, Julian Draxler and Marcos Reus, the former Schalke player expressed his disappointment in not going to Russia but understood the decision from his manager.

Was that decision the right one though.

Being a City fan, you may think my answer is bias but the team needed Leroy Sane. Germany required speed, especially in their wing areas. One of Leroy’ s qualities is speed which would had stretched either Mexico’s or South Korea’s defence.

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Playing Thomas Mueller and Julian Draxler allowed the opponents to defend deep and hit the counter-attack with pace, something that worked so well for the Group F opponents. The two players who both played as wingers were never looking to get in behind their opponents backline, or even squeeze the defence enough to create the opportunities.

Even if Sane would start on the bench, at least any inclusion would give Joachim Löw and Germany the pace and a new attacking threat during the second half.

One thing that Sane has improved under Pep, particularly this season, is his form in front of goal. The stats of Sane’s season prove his improvement and the national team needed his shooting boots in Russia.

The team created 72 shots on the opponent’s goal, with only 21 hitting the target and two finding the back of the net, which came in the same fixture.

Maybe, the exclusion fitted the manager’s preparations and the team he wanted, giving trust to the more experienced members who allowed him to lift the golden trophy last time around in Brazil.

He knows that there is a good bunch of younger players coming through the ranks.

In the Confederations Cup, Die Mannschaft used the younger (next) generation and excelled in a different system. The 3-4-2-1 formation was beneficial as the squad dominated World Cup’s pre-tournament, even beating Mexico along the way.

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Leroy Sane was part of that squad, however, he failed to feature heavily in the tournament. Using wing-backs and two attacking midfielders, particularly not Mesut Ozil, worked well.

The formation could had been adapted for this tournament, with Sane being their star behind the number nine.

It was not meant to be and with hindsight, Germany may be progressing past the groups with Leroy in the team. Should Low remain in his job, the public would now want to see more youth featuring ahead of European Championships and any further campaigns.