Before the 2024 European Championship, the national coach Julian Nagelsmann told Mats Hummels that he would not be in the squad. Hummels later described the talk to the newspaper Sport Bild: Nicht einmal zwei Minuten. Not even two minutes.
He called it short and disappointing. Then he added: Ich brauche in solchen Momenten aber auch kein langes Gespräch und keine große Erklärung. Das hat mir gereicht. But in such moments I need no long talk and no big explanation. That was enough for me. As he understood it, the reasons were related to age, such as fitness.