Klopp Praises Celtic's Baur After Germany Call-Up
Jurgen Klopp has wasted no time putting his stamp on Germany – and Mika Baur is one of the clearest signs of it.
The 22-year-old Celtic midfielder, a relative unknown outside the Bundesliga and Scottish Premiership diehards a few months ago, has been handed his first senior call-up in Klopp’s debut Germany squad. Not as a token extra, but as part of a sprawling 44-man pool split across two groups that screams reset and renewal.
One squad will face the Netherlands and Greece. The other, where Baur’s name suddenly appears alongside more familiar faces, is set to take on Serbia and Greece, with the Celtic man due to join up with the national set-up from September 28.
For a player who only arrived in Glasgow this summer, it is a rapid rise – and one Klopp clearly believes has been earned, not gifted.
A bold move to Glasgow, a bolder reward
Baur swapped newly-promoted Bundesliga side Paderborn for Celtic in a deal worth around £6 million after playing an almost ever-present role in their successful 2025/26 campaign. It was a brave decision: leave the comfort of a league he knew, step into the pressure cooker of Celtic, and do it under the weight of a transfer fee and expectation.
Klopp has noticed.
Speaking to STV Sport, the former Liverpool manager didn’t hide his enthusiasm. “I consider him really exciting,” he said, before adding that Baur is “absolutely up for it.” The two have already spoken on the phone, not just about football, but about the reality of life in Glasgow – including the weather, a subject Klopp knows all too well from his time on Merseyside.
“With this move, he’s taken on a very challenging step,” Klopp admitted. It sounded less like a warning and more like approval. A nod from a coach who values players willing to step outside their comfort zone.
O’Neill’s trust, Oxlade-Chamberlain on the bench
If there were any doubts about how Baur would adapt to Scottish football, they have faded quickly. Under Martin O’Neill, he has already become a central figure, trusted in big games and big moments.
Most strikingly, his form has pushed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – one of Celtic’s headline summer arrivals and a vastly experienced operator – out of the starting XI in recent weeks. That kind of displacement does not happen by accident. It happens when a new signing seizes every minute he is given.
Baur has done exactly that. Earlier this month, he produced a man-of-the-match performance against St Johnstone, scoring the winner and underlining his ability to influence games in the final third. It was the sort of display that sticks in the mind of a national coach scouring Europe for fresh energy.
He then played the full 90 minutes in the 3-0 Glasgow Derby defeat at Ibrox. On paper, that result stings. For a selector like Klopp, though, there is value in seeing how a young midfielder copes in one of the most intense atmospheres in European football, even when the night goes against him.
From U21 promise to senior breakthrough
This is not a complete bolt from the blue. Baur has already come through the Germany system, representing his country at under-21 level. There, he shared a dressing room with Said El Mala, Finn Jeltsch and Brajan Gruda – all three now also called up by Klopp as part of this sweeping first selection.
The message is unmistakable: past promise is being cashed in, and those who have progressed away from the Bundesliga are not being ignored.
For Baur, the call-up is a validation of his decision to trade Paderborn for Parkhead. It shows that a move to Scotland, often dismissed as a step away from the spotlight, can still be a pathway to the national team when the performances justify it and the manager is watching closely.
Joining a small, select Celtic–Germany club
Should Baur make his senior debut in the coming fixtures, he will step into a small and distinguished group. Only a handful of German internationals have worn the green and white of Celtic, among them Andreas Thom and Andreas Hinkel.
Both left their own marks in Glasgow. Baur now has the chance to carve out a modern version of that story, one written in a different era, under a different kind of German coach, in a national side searching for a new identity.
Klopp has called him “really exciting.” Celtic fans have already seen why. The next question is simple: how far can this bold move, and this bolder call-up, carry him?
