Can Uzun has had so much to celebrate in an impressive career to date. - © IMAGO/osnapix / Marcus Hirnschal

bundesliga

Can Uzun: The unstoppable rise of the Eintracht Frankfurt and Türkiye attacker

20.02.2025

Can Uzun is one of those players who appears to have been born to play at the highest level, and at Eintracht Frankfurt of late, the 19-year-old Turk is shining brightly as the world watches on.

Dino Toppmöller’s team are riding high in the Bundesliga standings and flying the flag for the division in the UEFA Europa League. That the Eagles are doing so with one of the most exciting young sides on the continent is all the more impressive.

With his hard-work ethic, unrestrained talent and eagerness to succeed, Uzun encapsulates the team in which he plays. The numbers now adding up to seven goal involvements in all competitions, it is becoming increasingly difficult for coach Toppmöller not to start a player who has clear designs on a regular first-team place at Eintracht.

Watch: The best of Uzun

“He can obviously still improve and is set to be an important player in the future,” Toppmöller said of his talented young star, with Uzun’s teammate Tuta adding, “Can is a very big talent. Whether he comes on as a substitute or plays from the start, he is always right there and gets his chances."

Uzun knows, too, he can deliver on the regular, as he showed in Die Adler’s Matchday 22 3-1 win against Holstein Kiel. In his 15th Bundesliga appearance, and first start at home in the division, the Türkiye international set up his team’s second goal, before netting the third himself. With four goals and an assist in Germany’s top tier alone, Uzun is displaying his importance to a third-placed Eintracht side that could yet disrupt the top two teams in the division.

The Regensburg-born versatile attacker once summed up his on-field preferences in the following way: “I prefer to play in the left half-space, as a number 10 or an eight, but if the coach puts me somewhere else, then of course I will fulfil those tasks.”

Watch: Uzun rescues Eintracht in Wolfsburg

Indeed, what’s happening on the pitch now is all an extension of a phenomenal few years at Nuremberg. Prior to his summer transfer to Frankfurt, Uzun lit up the second division with the team nicknamed Der Club to the tune of 16 goals and two assists in 30 Bundesliga 2 games in 2023/24. No 18-year-old had ever previously managed such a haul in Germany’s second tier.

Just as impressive were Uzun’s achievements of becoming Nuremberg’s youngest-ever scorer at 17, before then replacing Germany footballing legend Olaf Thon as the youngest player in the DFB Cup to score a hat-trick in that competition.

There appears an ease with which Uzun operates on the pitch and in how he has managed to glide so impressively to the top of his craft. Yet as the player himself told Hessenschau.de at the start of this season, “I've worked hard for this my whole life; I see it as confirmation of these years of work.”

Can Uzun: "I've worked hard for this all my life." - IMAGO/J¸rgen Kessler

The Eintracht No.20 has become, ever-more increasingly, one of the players fans at the Deutsche Bank Park are excited to see. It’s a prospect that fuels Uzun’s desire to improve and one that adds further confidence to a young player who arrived in Frankfurt with immense belief in his own abilities.

“I think I had a good year in Nuremberg,” the teenager explained. “I don't mind the hype and want to give something back, especially to the fans; I want to live up to these high expectations. I came [to Frankfurt] to play as much as possible,” he said.

With the high-profile departure of Omar Marmoush to English Premier League giants Manchester City in January, Eintracht moved to bolster their squad with the arrivals of Michy Batshuayi and Elye Wahi. While both players are settling into their new surroundings, Uzun is eager to grow his understanding with the team's top-scoring forward Hugo Ekitiké, while giving his coach a selection headache in attack.

Watch: Uzun scores first Bundesliga goal for Frankfurt in rout of Bochum

A high-profile game against Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich on Sunday gives Toppmöller important and difficult decisions to make in terms of his attacking plan. There is no doubt, however, that Uzun would relish a starting spot for the trip to the Allianz Arena.

Highlighting his abilities at the beginning of the campaign, Uzun said, “I see myself as an instinctive footballer; I do whatever comes to mind on the pitch. Put simply, I have a good nose for a chance.”

With Eintracht currently equalling their best-ever points haul in a Bundesliga campaign and enjoying a run of seven games undefeated under their shrewd tactician, Toppmöller has clearly been making all the right moves this season. His next big choice might revolve around whether or not to start Uzun against Bayern, or keep a player who has the second-highest number of goals (three) from the bench this season in reserve.

Uzun (l.), coach Toppmöller and Eintracht are all set for an exciting task against Bayern. - IMAGO/Stefan Brauer / Brauer-Fot

In the past, it was a Bayern player who many chose to compare Uzun with when trying to describe the Türkiye international’s exciting raw talent. Yet the former Jahn Regensburg youth never cared much for such comparisons, insisting: “I don't want to be the next [Jamal] Musiala; I want to be the first Can Uzun.”