KAI HAVERTZ (£4.5m) is currently the fourth most-popular player in Dream Team Euros.
The 25-year-old’s ownership of 34.9% also makes him the second most-selected striker in the game at present.
However, the Arsenal star faces serious pressure from Niclas Fullkrug (£4m) for a place in Germany’s starting line-up ahead of Matchday 4.
Die Mannschaft confirmed top spot in Group A thanks to the Borussia Dortmund target man’s stoppage-time equaliser against Switzerland on Sunday night.
Fullkrug’s emphatic header came in stark contrast to Havertz’s efforts at goal in the match, which caused Yann Sommer (£3m) few problems.
The latter played well against Scotland to bank 13 points in Matchday 1 but he’s been less effective in his two most recent outings.
Whereas Fullkrug has looked threatening in three consecutive substitute appearances – he’s scored two goals in just 73 minutes of playing time at the tournament so far.
As a result, there is now a loud clamour for the Champions League finalist to start ahead of Havertz in the round of 16.
In fact, a poll of 138,000 German fans conducted by Bild found that 90% of supporters want Fullkrug to start up top in the hosts’ next game.
After the 1-1 with Swizterland, Julian Nagelsmann told Bild: “Fulle [Fullkrug] has a chance to start, but Kai has the same chances.
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“Kai had three good chances, and he was annoyed that he didn’t take two. He headed the ball onto his own shoulder. He still played a good game.”
When asked about the possibility of Fullkrug starting, Die Mannschaft’s head coach said: “‘He provides arguments for both things. To continue to act as a substitute because he does it really well, he scores his second substitute goal.
“Or to play from the start. It is both a joy and a sorrow for him that he fulfils the role well.”
Nagelsmann named the exact same starting line-up for all three group games and clearly has faith in Havertz’s ability but his loyalty will be tested when the knockouts begin on Saturday.
Not only has Fullkrug made a compelling case for himself at the tournament, his record at international level more broadly is highly impressive – the 31-year-old has scored 13 goals in 19 caps at a rate of one every 57.7 minutes.
Dream Team Euros managers have unlimited transfers available to them ahead of Matchday 4 so those who now feel uncertain about Havertz’s place in the pecking order can easily find an alternative if they wish.
Unfortunately, the deadline falls at 4pm on Saturday (June 29th) which is an hour before Swizterland take on Italy but four hours before Germany kick-off in the evening.
This means gaffers won’t know the hosts’ starting line-up prior to the deadline and will therefore have to second-guess Nagelsmann’s selection.
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Such is the nature of international tournaments, there may be an indication from another source in the coming days of whether Havertz or Fullkrug will start and Dream Team Euros bosses should seek out as many clues as possible.
At the time of writing, Havertz is currently the most transferred-out player ahead of Matchday 4…
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
