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ESPN staff 7y

Carlo Ancelotti hails Julian Green work and backs him to shine at Stuttgart

Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti has backed Julian Green to do well following his move Stuttgart after seeing improvement from the U.S. international.

The 21-year-old agreed to join second-tier Stuttgart last month after he wasn't able to secure a regular place in the first-team squad with the German champions.

Ancelotti elected to keep Green, who came through the ranks at Bayern's youth academy, in his senior squad this season, but he only made two appearances in cup games.

In an exclusive interview with ESPN FC from Bayern's winter training camp in Qatar, Ancelotti praised Green for the work rate he showed while training alongside some of the world's top players.

"The problem for Julian Green with us was that he didn't play a lot of games because he had some strong competition up front," Ancelotti said. "But I think from the very beginning right up until Christmas he improved a lot.

"Also, he didn't play a lot. He trained well. He played one game against Augsburg and scored a goal. He was in the national team. I think that in the last six months, he improved a lot."

Green was the youngest player on the United States' World Cup team in 2014 and was called into the national team for the World Cup qualifying defeats in November that ultimately cost Jurgen Klinsmann his job as national team coach.

Without playing time at Bayern or the support of Klinsmann, Green's international future could have been in jeopardy, but Ancelotti believes he should get a chance to impress in the German second division, where fellow U.S. forward Bobby Wood was able to shine a year ago.

"I hope that in Stuttgart he can play with more continuity and show his quality, the top quality of a central striker, " Ancelotti said of his former player.

"He has the typical skill set of a center forward, he's very good without the ball and he is so good at finding space and moving behind the defensive line. And he has quality on the ball too."

Stay tuned to ESPN FC in the coming days for more of Gab Marcotti's exclusive interview with Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti.

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