ÖFB
Austria’s team boss Ralf Rangnick continues to campaign intensively for the exceptional talent Paul Wanner. The 17-year-old from Bayern Munich is eligible to play for both Germany and his country of birth, Austria. At the end of February there was another meeting between Rangnick, Wanner and his advisors. How the attacking midfielder decides remains uncertain.
The future only depends on Wanner himself. “There hasn’t been a decision yet,” said ÖFB sports director Peter Schöttel on Friday at a media event in Vienna of the APA. It is not planned for Rangnick to nominate the youngster for the forthcoming start of the European Championship qualification in Linz. Wanner was born in Dornbirn but grew up mostly in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. He has an Austrian mother and a German father. So far, the talent has only been active in German youth selections. Rangnick brought him to the ÖFB-A national team for the first time in November as a training player without being used.
“We know that he felt very comfortable with us,” explained Schöttel. Rangnick is very behind winning Wanner for the ÖFB. “He sees extraordinary opportunities in him.” Even the personnel problem on the left defensive flank, which has plagued Rangnick since taking office last year, he apparently trusts him to be able to solve. Last week, the team boss watched the hopefuls live on the spot during a 3-2 home win by Bayern’s second team against Schweinfurt in the Regionalliga Bayern.
Wanner has not had a chance with the Bayern pros in recent weeks. His eighth and so far last competitive game for the German record champions dates from February 5, a 4-2 league win against Wolfsburg. “He’s at an important age,” said Schöttel, who once again emphasized that he had also informed the DFB about all the steps. “We always played with open cards. I would like to see this kind of transparency from other associations as well.”
Change of association in football “sensitive topic”
The ÖFB keeps losing hopeful talents trained in Austria to other nations for which they are eligible to play due to their origin. Most recently, the ex-Rapidler, who was born in Vienna and is now employed by Dynamo Zagreb, Robert Ljubicic decided for Croatia. Most of the time, however, the change of nations already happens in the youth age. The ÖFB lost the two Salzburg players Amar Dedic and Luka Sucic to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia respectively. Both players were trained in Austria.
“It’s a tricky subject – and it will become more and more important in the next few years because many players have several options,” explained Schöttel. Team boss Rangnick will name his squad for the start of the European Championship qualifiers against Azerbaijan (March 24) and Estonia (March 27) on Tuesday (1 p.m., live on ORF Sport +) in Vienna.