Calls are growing for a decision on the future of Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann, who touched down in Munich on Wednesday following his team's early World Cup exit.
Nagelsmann has come under fire after four-time champions Germany were ousted 4-3 on penalties by Paraguay in the round of 32 on Monday, a result only marginally better than group stage exits in 2018 and 2022.
The performance has sparked a heated debate over the future of Nagelsmann, who has a contract until 2028 and said post-match he would not step down and wanted to continue if allowed to.
Nagelsmann did not speak to waiting reporters when leaving Munich Airport through a rear exit in pouring rain.
Bayern stars Aleksandar Pavlovic and Jamal Musiala, who had travelled on the same plane, also left the terminal without comment.
Criticism of the national team coach and calls for someone else to take over has come from all sides, with former German international Mats Hummels saying he could see Pep Guardiola replace Nagelsmann.
"I believe that both Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp would be a good fit anywhere – any club team, any national team," Hummels, who currently works as a pundit for Germany's MagentaTV, said.
"In my view, they are the two best managers of the past decade, indeed of the last 17 or 18 years, anywhere in the world. That's why I could easily see either of them taking the job."
Multiple voices have called for Klopp to get the job, and Hummels did not hide the fact that his former coach during his time at Borussia Dortmund would be his preferred pick too.
He said Klopp's coaching style was not "about everyone having it as easy as possible. Instead, everyone has to work their socks off for the team and its success."
"He could even unite a whole country behind him once again. He’s got what it takes," Hummels, who was part of Germany's 2014 World Cup-winning squad, said.
Former Germany captain Philipp Lahm has also joined the chorus of Nagelsmann critics, stressing that the coach's performance "needs to be questioned."
"Of course, the national team coach bears responsibility for the elimination," Lahm, who led Germany to World Cup glory in 2014, wrote in an op-ed for Kicker magazine published on Tuesday evening.
Lahm called on the German Football Federation (DFB) to conduct a prompt review of the World Cup debacle.
"We all have the right to a swift analysis and to answers. And then the DFB must take decisions, whatever direction they may take."
The DFB has said it will decide on Nagelmann's future following the team's return from the World Cup.
