"Chewing gum" Raum sees luxury problem for Nagelsmann

Julian Nagelsmann's chewing gum comparison visibly amused David Raum and also made his Leipzig colleague Ridle Baku laugh. Raum believes that "giving everyone a good feeling" and creating a good "connection" within the national soccer team is one of his tasks on the way to the 2026 World Cup. This is also how he understood the national coach's statement.

"He tries to talk to everyone, has a good relationship with all the players in the team, has a good connection with everyone and can keep them together and also organizes a lot of things concerning the team," said national coach Raum, describing Raum's development. He was like "chewing gum", followed the somewhat peculiar comparison.

Raum has developed enormously

Ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifiers in Luxembourg on Friday (20:45/RTL) and three days later against Slovakia at the home of the full-back duo in Leipzig, Raum has not only developed enormously in the DFB squad. The 27-year-old has become a force of character in one of the biggest problem positions in German soccer.

It may have been a coincidence that full-backs Raum and Baku took their places on the national team's press podium on Philipp Lahm's 42nd birthday of all days. The 2014 world champion and honorary captain is still a benchmark for the defensive wing-back position and has so far only been matched in terms of charisma and sporting leadership by current DFB captain Joshua Kimmich.

And yet it is thanks to Raum that the left flank is no longer a permanent rotation zone in the DFB team. Nagelsmann's predecessors Joachim Löw and Hansi Flick chased candidates through there by the dozen.

A core competence

A regular in the current World Cup qualifiers, Raum can definitely see himself as a regular. Core competence: crosses, free kicks and tireless commitment. "We have world-class players in other positions. I'm concentrating on what I can do," said the 32-time international, who scored his first DFB goal in the first leg against Luxembourg (4:0).

The first challenger is now the young Nathaniel Brown from Frankfurt, ahead of Stuttgart's Maximilian Mittelstädt, who lost his pole position in the European Championship year and currently has no place in the squad. Nagelsmann has even spoken of a kind of oversupply in the six-man position. Raum almost sees "a luxury problem" for the coach.

For club colleague Baku, the role of backup for Kimmich remains on the right flank after a four-year DFB break, combined with the residual hope that the captain may perhaps move back into the center. "I want to soak up as much as I can," he said.