• Injured centre-half in 27-man party
• Four players will be cut on 29 May
Arsenal's Per Mertesacker has been named in Germany's provisional 27-man squad for Euro 2012 despite the centre-half not having played since 11 February when he suffered ankle ligament damage during his club's 2-1 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Last week the 27-year-old said that he felt confident of being fit for the tournament and even went on to suggest that he would be in the best condition of his career. "I think that by the time the Euro starts, I will have achieved a level of fitness like never before. In the past, I have always missed out when it comes to getting the optimal preparation time. I haven't had to bend and twist to accommodate Arsenal to be fit for the Euro."
"We have spoken with Per and he has put in a lot of effort in getting back to fitness," said the Germany coach, Joachim Löw. "I spoke to him and his coach Arsène Wenger yesterday. We agreed that he will fly with the squad to Sardinia on Friday. Wenger said he is not ready to play yet so he has welcomed us taking him with us for training.
"He has got to get back to competitive levels of fitness and we hope to get him there over the coming weeks."
He is joined in the squad which will be reduced to 23 men by 29 May by the uncapped pair – Schalke's Julian Draxler and the Borussia Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen.
The 18-year-old Draxler, who would also be eligible to play for Germany's Under-19s this summer, is one of 12 midfielders selected by Löw with the likelihood one or two will be trimmed from the final squad, but the manager is looking forward to taking a closer look at him over the coming weeks.
"Julian Draxler has a lot of potential, he is very young and very quick in the one-on-one situations, and very intelligent," said Löw.
Germany travel to a training camp in Sardinia on Friday, albeit without members of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund's squads as they meet in the DFB-Pokal final on Saturday. Dortmund's players will then link up with the squad for the second phase of their preparations in the south of France from 18 May, although Löw will have to wait even longer before his Bayern contingent joins the squad after the Champions League final on 19 May.
Germany play friendlies against Switzerland on 26 May and Israel on 31 May.
Provisional Germany squad for Euro 2012
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen), Ron Robert Zieler (Hannover), Marc-André ter Stegen (Borussia Mönchengladbach); Holger Badstuber, Jérôme Boateng, Philipp Lahm (all Bayern Munich), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke), Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer (both Borussia Dortmund), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal); Sven Bender, Mario Götze, Ilkay Gundogan (all Borussia Dortmund), Lars Bender, Andre Schürrle (both Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Draxler (Schalke), Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller, Bastian Schweinsteiger (all Bayern Munich), Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil (both Real Madrid), Marco Reus (Borussia Monchengladbach); Lukas Podolski (Cologne), Cacau (Stuttgart), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (Lazio). Read More
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