For the March international break, Di Salvo (Germany's u-21 coach) had Max Finkgräfe on his list of players to call up. However, at Köln's request he was not nominated.
According to Kicker reports, Köln coach Timo Schultz was in communication with the under-21 Germany national team surrounding the availability of Max Finkgräfe as Schultz wanted to have the nineteen-year-old for Köln's training camp in Spain.
Therefore, it is believed that the youngster was not nominated as a result of this. On the matter, Antonio Di Salvo said: "We have a lot of left full-backs available, not just Finkgräfe: Luca Netz, who plays a lot, Nathaniel Brown, who has already shown up with us, or Tom Rothe."
About the non-nomination situation surrounding alleged communication with Köln, Di Salvio added: "1. FC Köln didn't ask us to do that. We're in discussions, but it was clearly our decision."
Nathaniel Brown (Nürnberg, on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt) and Luca Netz (Borussia Mönchengladbach) were selected in Finkgräfe's native left-back position.