The Bundesliga is the most exciting leagues in Europe. Long overshadowed by the big three, the last few seasons have signified progression for German’s First Division. A significant factor for the progress displayed by German clubs, is their mutual agreement to produce young talents from their academies and nurture them into the stars of tomorrow. Germany is now a breeding ground to some of the most talented footballers across Europe. Below is a list of the 10 best talents in the Bundesliga!
Marco Reus: At just 23-years-old, Marco Reus isn’t shy of the sight of goal, having scored 13 in the Bundesliga already following his big-money move from Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer. Now it is clear why his price tag was so high.
Possibly the most prolific of the divison’s strikers, Reus has deputised for Lewandowski this season playing second fiddle to the Polish international, but given the chance, he has certainly produced for Dortmund. He has picked up a valuable 14 caps for the competitive German first team scoring 5 goals. He certainly has a very bright future ahead of him and has attracted interest from a host of top flight clubs in recent times.
A match winner with blistering pace with and without the ball, his ability to make runs through the defence makes him one of the hottest properties on the market in the striking role.
He grew up in Germany north of the Rhine and made his debut for local club Rot Weiss second team, and then the first team. In 2009 he was scouted by Monchengladbach and made a whopping 97 appearances bagging 36 goals and leading Monchengladbach to european heights. He then made a big money move to Borussia in 2012 where, in his first season at the club has put away 11 in 22 appearances.
Mario Götze: Dubbed the ‘next Lionel Messi’, the 20-year-old German has a buy-out clause of £30m inserted into his contract in an attempt to keep potential admirers at arms length. Capped 20 times by Germany at the tender age of 20, you can understand why various PL clubs have been linked with a move for the Memmingen-born midfielder.
Gotze plays either off the striker or drops onto the wings, where he can produce venomous crosses for Reus or Lewandowski to attack. He is known for his speed down the by line and his calmness in front of goal. He can strike the ball very well and his most recent goal was against Shaktar Donetsk in the last 16 of the champions league where he guided Borussia Dortmund to a place in the next round, taking the third goal on the night with a cheeky flick towards the far post from a well delivered cross.
His father was a professor and fan of football, which somehow transpired into an extremely sporting family with Fabian Gotze and Felix Gotze making their way into Professional Football in Germany, with older brother Fabian playing in the Second Division with Vfl Bochum, and Felix in the Borussia Dortmund youth set up. Mario Gotze made his way up the ladder to fame throught the academies of Ronsburg and Hombruch, eventually making his move to Borussia Dortmund in 2009. Since then he has made over 77 appearances having scored 20 goals for the club, at such a young age of just 20.
Kevin Trapp: Trapp is a newcomer on the block at just 22 years of age, having come from Germany’s lower divisions with Eintracht Frankfurt’s newly promoted side breaking all the rules to sit at 4th in the Bundesliga, having kept 2 clean sheets in his last 3 matches.
He’s a real shot stopper, who could prove to be a real star and I would invite Premier League bosses to try him out. Trapp has to be accredited with Frankfurt’s success having been in superb form this season.
Trapp was in West Germany in Merzig, where he learnt his trade at a very young age, starting off at Bachem and then going on to play at Metlach. He was then discovered by second division side Kaiserslautern, where he made a total of 71 appearances for both the 1st and 2nd teams. He then moved to Frankfurt for this season’s promotion, where he has performed exceptionally and is possibly the main reason why Frankfurt are currently 4th in the German league, shipping very few goals since the 22 year old’s arrival at the Frankfurt based club.
Julian Draxler: Draxler is German International with a very bright future ahead of him, at the very young age of 19. Much like Lewis Holtby, he is a young attacking midefielder, who has certainly made his mark on a number of occasions against some of Germany’s top clubs. In many ways, he has kept Schalke in contention with Europe. He has bullied his way into the starting 11, and even has a few goals to his name in the blue of Schalke.
Draxler plays in the Midfield, either in the centre, or out wide. His ability to cross is on display with some very fine assists this season and some very fine finishes at that. At such a young age it is odd that he shows such composure in front of goal and can strike a ball extremely powerfully.