Mauricio Pochettino Addresses Noahkai Banks' Germany-USMNT Situation Before 2026 World Cup

Banks has made 21 Bundesliga appearances this season, scoring once and adding an assist, and he holds dual eligibility through his American father and German mother, allowing him to represent either the United States or Germany.

With just two months until Pochettino submits his final 26-man squad for the World Cup, Banks has not yet appeared in a game for the senior USMNT or Germany teams, thus not binding himself to any of the two countries.

According to German outlet Kicker, Banks is leaning toward Germany while keeping his options open, despite not receiving a call-up from the German national team.

In the latest update on this saga, Pochettino left Banks out of his latest squad as the defender opted to skip the United States scheduled friendlies.

Pochettino addressed the situation on Wednesday, confirming there is ongoing communication between the player and the USMNT coaching staff.

"I think Noahkai is a young kid that has become a man so quick," Pochettino said. "I was a little bit unlucky because we wanted to give the possibility to play and he was injured but [he] was with us and I think it was a great opportunity to see and talk with him and to know each other and to know the rest of the team and the staff and everything."

The USMNT head coach also described the circumstances surrounding the player’s decision-making process.

"He's thinking a lot," Pochettino said. "He's in a situation that is not easy for him. We are very focused on him because we follow him. He's in the pool of the players that we are following [from] the moment we signed the contract with the U.S. men's national team and I think we started to identify top talent and young talent.[USMNT assistant coach] Jesus [Perez] was seeing him in Augsburg and he was talking with him, I was talking with him, we were talking by FaceTime, Zoom. We have a great contact and I really appreciate him. He's a very nice kid but is in a difficult situation."

Banks played for the USA underage teams at the 2023 FIFA U17 World Cup. He also trained with the USMNT in Sept. 2025, but he didn't play in the friendlies against South Korea and Japan played that month.