Nine Bundesliga gems – and the clubs who should target them

German football is in fine fettle. On the international stage, their teams have enjoyed success at all levels, and this summer won both the Under-21 European Championships and the Confederations Cup, three years after lifting the World Cup for a fourth time.

At club level, the Bundesliga is ranked second only to the Spanish top flight according to the current Uefa coefficients. However, for sheer entertainment value and atmosphere in the stadium, regular watchers report that it can’t be beaten.

The football that is played in Germany is fast, technical, tactically intense and increasingly influential. All over Europe, clubs and competitions are following in the wake of trends for counter-pressing and unorthodox players who roam between the lines and cover more than one role on the pitch.

Naby Keita is the latest talent to rise above the rest as a major target for a cash-rich foreign suitor. Liverpool could end the summer having shelled out a near world record sum for the Guinean all-rounder.

He is a midfielder capable of winning the ball, leading the press, dribbling through the opposition’s team, spotting and playing the killer ball and popping up with goals, assists and moments of magic, but he’s not the only intriguing prospect worthy of attention within the German topflight.

In recent years, the Bundesliga has exported a wide array of exciting and unorthodox players to Europe’s other leading leagues, from Nuri Sahin, Shinji Kagawa, Toni Kroos and Roberto Firmino to Ilkay Gundogan, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Julian Draxler and Leroy Sane. This has hardly been a modern phenomenon. Ever heard of Günter Netzer, Tony Yeboah or Jay-Jay Okocha?

Below are nine other names to keep track of in the Bundesliga who could follow Keita to become the next big thing coming out of German football.

Benjamin Henrichs

Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Position: Right-back
Age: 20

Already capped as a senior international for Germany, Henrichs is a highly versatile footballer capable of playing at right-back, left-back, in midfield and even down the wings. Blessed with explosive pace and good feet, he gets up and down the right-side with ease for his club, and has played almost everywhere for his country at youth level.

He was second only to RB Leipzig midfielder Diego Demme for tackles won in the Bundesliga last season, but does far more than chase down opponents with the ball. The 20-year-old is a multi-faceted talent with huge potential.

Perfect for: Manchester City – Pep Guardiola was a manager inspired during his time in charge of full-backs David Alaba and Philipp Lahm at Bayern Munich. Henrichs has the potential to become a comparably well-rounded footballer, enabling the Catalan to get creative with his plans at right-back and midfield.

Kai Havertz

Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Position: Attacking midfielder
Age: 18

The teenager signed professional terms in July 2017 following a breakthrough campaign that saw him score four goals in 24 Bundesliga games last season.

Havertz became the competition’s youngest-ever debutant in October 2016 and youngest-ever goalscorer in April 2017 after teeing up Karim Bellarabi to score the 50,000th goal in the German division in February. By the end of his first senior campaign, he had been involved in nine league goals, scoring four and assisting another five.

Standing at six-foot-one, he is often been used on the wings or behind the striker, but has also played deeper at youth level, and is an impressively quick and complete proposition for the future.

Perfect for: Arsenal – The young midfielder has been compared to both Mesut Ozil and Michael Ballack, and cites the former as his role model as a player. He could blossom into a player with the perfect profile for Arsene Wenger, if he doesn’t match the brief already.

Kerem Demirbay

Club: Hoffenheim
Position: Midfielder
Age: 24

Let go by Borussia Dortmund in 2013, Demirbay garnered a reputation for having a bad attitude before he finally arrived at Hoffenheim, ready to realise his promise, under Julian Nagelsmann in 2016.

Playing in a midfield role that sees the newly-capped Germany international start off in the middle of the pitch before drifting wide to double up on the opposition’s full-backs. Only Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara completed more take ons as central midfielders than Demirbay, who took the ball past his opponents 59 times in the league last season.

Perfect for: Southampton – With Dusan Tadic’s future on the south coast uncertain, and club record Sofiane Boufal having failed to live up to his billing, the Saints may need a new creative presence sooner rather than later. With their stacked midfield and powerful full-backs, Demirbay’s movement and dribbling ability could unlock their potential.

Kevin Kampl

Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Position: Midfielder
Age: 26

Another ex-Dortmund player who never quite got the chance to show what he was about at the Westfalenstadion, Kampl returned to Germany from Red Bull Salzburg in 2015 after initially leaving the Bundesliga as a youngster to pursue his career Austria.

He has matured into a tenacious and tireless presence in the middle of the pitch who excels at helping to press the opposition into disarray before driving forward with the ball at his feet, or slotting a pass into the path of a runner. The 26-year-old was in the top 10 for playing the killer pass last season.

Perfect for: Tottenham Hotspur – Mousa Dembele remains a key player for Mauricio Pochettino but his fitness issues mean that it can be difficult for the Belgian to play a full 90 minutes or cover as many games as his side need. Despite being two inches shorter than the six-foot mark that Spurs seem to insist on for players in their first team, Kampl would fit their hard-running, high-pressing style of play.

Lars Stindl

Club: Borussia Monchengladbach
Position: Forward
Age: 28

A player who is at his best playing off the main striker, Stindl was the match-winner as Germany beat Chile in the final of the Confederations Cup, as he pounced on an error to score his third goal of the tournament. Last season in the Bundesliga, he scored 11 himself and set up three assists, and was involved in four goals in three games in the Europa League for Gladbach too. He has a good eye for a killer ball and can out-run his markers to get behind on the counter-attack too, completing three out of his four attempted through balls and scoring two goals from fast breaks.

Perfect for: Everton – Ronald Koeman hasn’t been satisfied with Ross Barkley and his decision-making in the final third yet bringing Wayne Rooney back to Goodison Park may not be the most cost-effective solution to finding the Dutchman the sort of player he wants to have on hand to attack the box from behind the striker. Stindl could fit the bill.

Marco Fabian

Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Position: Midfielder
Age: 27

The industrious inspiration behind Frankfurt’s attack, only Thiago Alcantara made more interceptions in final third in the Bundesliga last season than Fabian, with the Mexican bagging seven goals and pitching in with four assists in his debut campaign in the German topflight.

Capable of playing through the middle or out wide, the 27-year-old likes to cut inside to cause trouble from the right and was joint-fourth for ball-winning actions in the final third in 2016/17.

Perfect for: Leicester City – A hard-working creator who would offer something different to Leicester’s midfield if the Foxes have to say goodbye to Riyad Mahrez.

Mathew Leckie

Club: Hertha Berlin
Position: Winger
Age: 26

Australian international Leckie won more duels per 90 minutes than any other regular appearance maker in the Bundesliga last season, winning 11.00 per 90 down the wing for Ingolstadt, who were relegated at the end of the campaign.

However, the 26-year-old’s heroics saw him snapped up by Hertha Berlin. During the summer, he also lined up for his country at the Confederations Cup, using his work ethic out wide to try and enable the Socceroos and their bold 3-2-4-1 formation to function.

Perfect for: West Ham – Although he may not be available this summer, Leckie’s commitment with and without the ball would endear him to Irons fans, and provide Slaven Bilic with another industrious wide runner who can cause trouble in attack like Michail Antonio.

Tin Jedvaj

Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Position: Defender
Age: 21

A tall and athletic young footballer who can play at right-back or at centre-back, in a back three or a back two, Jedvaj has impressed in games where Leverkusen has been forced to defend with their backs against the wall, but he can also deliver a decent cross and moves well through the thirds when played on the flank.

He even has a knack for scoring a spectacular goal or two when it suits him, and while he may have once been regarded as an exciting yet defensively suspect prospect, the Croatian has shown he can do a job on some of Germany’s best attackers when called upon to shutdown a specific threat.

Perfect for: Manchester United – Jose Mourinho has always prized having a player or two that excels in man-marking situations, and in spite of his age, the young Croatian has already shown that he is a formidable opponent for attackers to tangle with.

Vincenzo Grifo

Club: Borussia Monchengladbach
Position: Midfielder
Age: 24

A former Italy Under-20 international, Germany-born Grifo has worked his way back up into the Bundesliga with Freiburg after leaving Hoffenheim in 2015 following loan spells outside of the top flight. He was rewarded with a move to Gladbach in the summer of 2017 and should shine for the Foals.

If he doesn’t, the 24-year-old is exactly the sort of well-equipped playmaker to deserve a look from other clubs. Only five players attempted and completed more through balls in the German topflight last year.

Perfect for: Swansea City – In a future without Gylfi Sigurdsson, the Swans will need to find an alternative creator, and while he may no longer be on the market this summer, Grifo would be excellent addition if he became available again. A set piece specialist who can make things happen from open play too.