Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl suffers pre-World Cup injury with Germany
Bayern Munich starlet Lennart Karl suffered an injury in training and was taken to hospital on Friday as Germany intensify their preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Chicago
Karl was included in head coach Julian Nagelsmann's final 26-man squad on the back of an outstanding breakout campaign for Bayern, in which he contributed five goals and as many assists in 26 Bundesliga appearances.
The 18-year-old flew with the squad to Chicago on Wednesday, but was taken to hospital on Friday after sustaining an injury in training as the team geared up for their final warm-up game for the tournament, a friendly against the USA on Saturday.
Watch: The best of Lennart Karl in 2025/26
"Unfortunately, Lenni picked up an injury in training today," said Nagelsmann at a press conference after Friday's training session.
"We'll have to wait and see what the outcome is. To be honest, it didn't look particularly good. But I'd ask you to be a little patient – we're heading to the hospital now to get some scans done. Please don't follow him, give the player a bit of space, and you'll get an update on his condition in due course.
"He first needs some time to process the situation himself, and so do we, before we decide what to do next. We need a diagnosis for that. Once we have it, we'll update you and then see whether, hopefully, he can continue with us at the tournament or whether we'll need to call up a replacement. But we'll take it one step at a time."
