Havertz, Süle and the 5 players who could gain from a delayed Euro 2020

From young pretenders to injured first choices, bundesliga.com trains its lens on five players to look out for the summer after this one.

Kai Havertz
Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Position: Attacking midfielder
Caps/goals: (7/1)

A rangy, left-footed attacking midfielder, 20-year-old Havertz has already raced through the record books at Bayer Leverkusen.

Die Werkself's earliest ever Bundesliga debutant and goalscorer before he had turned 18, Havertz became the youngest player to reach a century of German top-flight appearances - aged 20 years six months and five days - in Leverkusen's 2-0 loss to Cologne in December.

The youngster finds himself on the winning side in Bayer colours more often than not, though, and after initially struggling to match his haul of 17 goals and three assists from last term during the current campaign, he has roared back into form with four of his six goals and four of his five assists coming since the turn of the year.

Watch: Havertz's first quarter-century of Bundesliga goals!

At international level, Havertz skipped straight from the Germany U19s to the first team in August 2018, with coach Joachim Löw saying that the player "looked like he had always belonged with this group." One goal and three assists in seven appearances later and Löw would appear to be right.

Die Mannschaft are spoiled for choice in the middle of the park, and Havertz may not be a first choice yet, but he has already led UEFA Champions League-chasing Leverkusen out as captain, and the summer after next he will be turning 22. Toni Kroos - still a paragon in his position - will be 31…

Niklas Süle
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Centre-back
Caps/goals: (24/1)

Where Havertz is still growing in influence at international level, Süle's position has never really been in question. The Bayern centre-back stands at a hulking 6'4" yet he is the second-fastest player on the record champions' books behind French winger Kingsley Coman. He also completes 94 percent of his passes.

Effective with and without the ball, Süle was the perfect player to underpin Löw's new 3-4-3 formation - instituted following Germany's early exit from the 2018 FIFA World Cup - but his 2019/20 Bundesliga season was cut short eight games into the campaign, the 24-year-old rupturing his cruciate ligament for the second time in Bayern's 2-2 draw with Augsburg last October.

The former Hoffenheim centre-back has made a speedy recovery and spoke about wanting to play for the league leaders again before this season was out, let alone making it to the Euros in the summer, but Matthias Ginter and Jonathan Tah alongside either Robin Koch or Emre Can remained the most likely back three once the tournament kicked off.

Another year to recover can only be a good thing for Süle, who will be among the first names on Löw's team sheet - whether Germany play three or four at the back - at next year's rescheduled finals.

Suat Serdar
Club: Schalke
Position: Central midfielder
Caps/goals: (3/0)

Schalke have blown hot and cold this season, fifth in the Hinrunde table just seven points off top spot; but just 15th in the Rückrunde equivalent, a would-be four points above the drop zone with only one win in 2020. Serdar's performances have simply never dipped, though.

The beating heart of his team, Serdar is a quintessential box-to-box midfielder who covers an average of 11 miles per 90 minutes, but he has added an eye for goal to his game this season, too, with his seven league strikes the most of any Royals Blues player.

Although his parents hail from Turkey, Rhineland-born Serdar has been capped at every level for Germany since the U16s and made his senior international bow in last October's 2-2 friendly draw with a Lucas Alario-inspired Argentina.

Serdar might still have been a question mark to make the final squad this summer, but another full season of posting similar numbers would make his inclusion almost unavoidable. The fact that fellow midfielders Joshua Kimmich, Ilkay Gündogan and the aforementioned Kroos would rather dictate play from deep also helps his cause.

Robin Koch
Club: Freiburg
Position: Centre-back/Defensive midfielder
Caps/goals: (2/0)

With Mats Hummels' and Jerome Boateng's international careers coming to a conclusion a matter of months before Süle injured his knee, Germany fans may have been wondering who their nation would lean on in defence. Ginter and Tah are top-level defenders for Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen respectively, but a back three requires more depth in the position.

Fortunately for Löw, he didn't have to look too hard. Freiburg have arguably been the surprise package of the Bundesliga season so far, and although Nils Petersen and Luca Waldschmidt steal more of the headlines with their final-third exploits, Koch has been a vital cog in Christian Streich's well-oiled machine.

Koch won plaudits for his first-half display against Argentina and was put in for another 90-minute shift alongside Ginter in November's 4-0 win over Belarus which sealed Germany's qualification for Euro 2020. Twenty-four this summer, Koch already looks like he belongs; at 25, his place in the starting line-up could well be safe, even with Süle returning.

Another bonus for the Kaiserslautern-born man is that he is almost as comfortable anchoring the midfield as he is marshalling the defence. An injury to Can and suddenly Koch looks like the best option to provide cover beside Kimmich, especially if a 33-year-old Sami Khedira is his only other competition in the position.

Philipp Max
Club: Augsburg
Position: Left-back/left winger
Caps/goals: (3/1 for Germany U23s)

Before the Augsburg man's claim is dismissed, let's look at Germany's left-sided options. Leroy Sane is a left-footed forward who plays in the final third, so the question here is who is best equipped to hare down the left, the widest man in a central bank of four.

Jonas Hector, Marcel Halstenberg and Nico Schulz have been the left-footed defenders called up for recent Germany squads, but at club level Hector has moved into central midfield for Cologne, Halstenberg is increasingly a left-sided centre-back for RB Leipzig, whilst Schulz has been sharing playing time with Raphael Guerreiro at Borussia Dortmund.

Watch: Max's best game this season? Two goals and an assist against Fortuna Düsseldorf...

Max, on the other hand, lines up every week in the very position demanded by Löw's new, dynamic Germany. Whether he plays left-back behind Ruben Vargas or left wing in front of Iago, Max makes that flank for Augsburg his own. Seven goals and five assists are quite some return for a team battling against relegation; the numbers of some forwards at other clubs.

Max's father Martin, a striker, was a two-time Bundesliga top scorer with over 300 top-flight appearances under his belt before he earned his lone Germany cap in 2002. Philipp won Olympic silver with Germany at the 2016 Summer Games and may not have to wait quite so long.