Havertz Dismisses Lineker's Germany Criticism: 'Not Listening to That'

Kai Havertz has made short work of Gary Lineker's damning verdict on Germany's World Cup campaign, refusing to let the pundit's criticism derail the team's tournament ambitions.

Germany scraped through Group E with six points, topping the section on goal difference despite matching the Ivory Coast's tally. It's hardly set the tournament alight, and Lineker certainly hasn't held back in his assessment. Speaking to French outlet L'Equipe, the former England striker delivered a withering take on Julian Nagelsmann's outfit.

"I think that this is one of the weakest Germany sides I've ever seen," Lineker declared, before adding that France should progress past Germany "without any trouble." He also reminded observers that Germany failed to make it out of their group at the previous two World Cups.

Havertz, however, is having none of it. The Arsenal forward insists the endless commentary from pundits—both domestic and foreign—simply doesn't register with him or his teammates.

"Everyone can have their own opinion. I have no problem with that," Havertz said. "I didn't even read what he said. At a tournament like this, a lot of people start talking about you. I don't think anyone is really listening to that."

He went on to highlight the sheer volume of analysis flying around: "We already have many pundits in our country. And if people from other countries start talking as well, then that's enough at some point. It's easy for people to criticise from outside. I'm not interested in that at all."

Havertz also addressed calls from some quarters for him to be dropped in favour of Deniz Undav. The forward acknowledged that he, Florian Wirtz, and Jamal Musiala haven't yet delivered their best form in attack but stressed the trio are taking responsibility for improvement.

"We talk a lot about what can work better and what we need to improve," he explained. "The three of us know ourselves that we haven't fully shown what we're capable of up front yet. It takes a bit of time because everyone comes from their clubs to the national team and you have to get used to your teammates. When you are in a major tournament, people talk, but I don't care what people say—we are focused on ourselves."

Germany face Paraguay in the round of 32 on Tuesday night, with a potential quarter-final showdown against France waiting in the wings should they progress.