JAMAL MUSIALA had his heart set on playing for England - until an intervention from then-Germany boss Jogi Low helped steal him away.
Die Mannschaft superstar Musiala, who takes on Denmark tomorrow, was born in Stuttgart but moved to the UK at seven.
He represented both England and Germany at Under-15 level but was planning on plumping for the former long-term.
Yet, when Bayern Munich pinched him from Chelsea in 2019, Low went to meet the whizkid along with Bayern’s academy director and sold Musiala his vision of how he could quickly reach the first team for club and country.
Musiala’s old school coach Andrew Martin, who is still close to the player and his family, told SunSport: “It was always going to be England.
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“I vividly remember having conversations with him and his dad (Daniel Richard).
“Jamal played for both countries at Under-15s and the report back was that he preferred England.
“He felt more at home there, he played for Chelsea and there were other Chelsea boys in the England squad, and he knew others from playing on the academy circuit.
“But sadly for English football, at 16 Jamal decided not to sign for Chelsea and moved to Bayern Munich.
“I know that that shifted it all, they put it completely the other way.
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"He was playing for Bayern, he was on the academy circuit there. Bayern made a clear pathway.
“I remember at the time Jamal went to meet Jogi Low and the academy director at Bayern.
“They made a clear pathway of how he would get into the Bayern first team and the German first team.
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“I think once you meet the first-team manager as a 16-17-year-old, I think your decision is made for you. That’s pretty impressive that they made the time to do that.
“He wanted it to be England but then it was the move to Germany that swayed everything, with the help of Low and the help of the Bayern set-up.
“They made a clear pathway for him and a year later he was playing in the Bayern first team.”
