Many possible debuts in the Nations League - First call-ups from Bellingham to Thuram

“We have been watching Marcus for a long time. He has great potential and a very interesting profile, so now was the time to invite him,” France head coach Didier Deschamps recently said about the first call-up for Borussia Mönchengladbach forward Marcus Thuram, who recently scored two goals in a 2-2 draw against Real Madrid in the Champions League and has been on the radar of multiple Premier League clubs in the summer. The 23-year-old is one of two newcomers to the World Cup winners’ squad for the upcoming final international break in 2020.

In view of the competition in the attacking postions of the Équipe Tricolore, this is not a matter of course: For the games against Finland, Portugal and Sweden – one friendly, two Nations League games – Deschamps also called up Kylian Mbappé, Kingsley Coman, Antoine Griezmann, Anthony Martial, Wissam Ben Yedder and Olivier Giroud. Also in the squad for the first time: right-back Ruben Aguilar, who has developed strongly under head coach Niko Kovac at AS Monaco.

With a market value of €32 million, Thuram is the third most valuable player who has never before been called up to his national team and could make his international senior debut in the next two weeks. In the Bundesliga’s internal ranking, the Frenchman is ahead of Jude Bellingham (€27 million) of Borussia Dortmund. The 17-year-old BVB youngster was only called up to the England squad at short notice on Tuesday. He replaces the injured James Ward-Prowse of Southampton.

Thuram and Bellingham are just a few of several Bundesliga players who can hope to make their debut for their country. Among the players called up for the first time are Germans Felix Uduokhai, Philipp Max and Ridle Baku, Belgium’s former Watford forward Dodi Lukebakio (Hertha BSC) and Croatia’s Marin Pongracic (Wolfsburg).

40 players called up to Italy squad - Russia & Co. with lots of new blood

In Nations League A and B, Germany head coach Joachim Löw’s colleagues from Italy (Roberto Mancini), Bosnia-Herzegovina (Dusan Bajevic), Denmark (Kasper Hjulmand) and Russia (Stanislav Cherchesov) have brought in a particularly large number of new players. Mancini, who has made a name for himself in the Squadra Azzurra as a coach who tries out many new players, nominated a total of 40 players – including those who have had to turn down the call up so far. Never before, Alessandro Bastoni (had to withdraw due to injury in September), Davide Calabria, Matteo Pessina and Mattia Zaccagni have been called up. Pietro Pellegri, Gian Marco Ferrari and Luca Pellegrini, some of whom have been called up again after years, are also still waiting for their debuts.

Hjulmand called up Oliver Christensen, Mikkel Damsgaard, Anders Dreyer, Jens Jönsson, Oliver Abildgaard and Magnus Kofod Andersen as new members of the Denmark squad. Jesper Hansen as well as Alexander Scholz have already been part of the national team without playing. Among Bosnians, Ajdin Hasic, Almedin Ziljkic, Samir Zeljkovic, Josip Corluka and Amar Rahmanovic can all look forward to their debuts, as can Jasmin Buric, Vladan Danilovic, Irfan Hadzic and Ermedin Demirovic, who had been called up but did not feature yet.

Russia head coach Cherchesov is now relying on Daniil Lesovoy, Konstantin Kuchaev, Ivan Oblyakov, Dmitri Zhivoglyadov, Roman Evgenjev and Igor Diveev for the first time. Goalkeeper Matvey Safonov, with a market value of €11 million, is one of the most valuable players, who have been called up before, but without any playing time so far.