Luka Vušković, Yan Diomande and the Bundesliga’s breakout stars
The Bundesliga has few equals in world football when it comes to giving young players a platform to shine.
With season drawing to a close, we take a look back on five breakout stars who have lit up the Bundesliga this season…
Luka Vušković
Age: 19 (born 24 February 2007)
Position: Centre-back
Club: Hamburg (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)
Country: Croatia (four caps, one goal)
Luka Vušković joined Hamburg on a season-long loan from Tottenham Hotspur last summer, and his dominant performances from the heart of the promoted side’s defence are a key reason behind HSV securing their top-flight status for 2026/27.
Vušković has matched striker Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer and talented Arsenal loanee Fábio Vieira – an attacking midfielder – with a team-high six Bundesliga goals from centre-back, one of which was a Goal of the Season contender against Hamburg’s Nordderby rivals Werder Bremen.
That’s not to say Vušković neglects his defensive obligations, though. He has the best duel success rate in the Bundesliga this season with 70 percent, while he is second league-wide for passes intercepted. The future looks to be extremely bright indeed.
Yan Diomande
Age: 19 (born 14 November 2006)
Position: Winger
Club: RB Leipzig
Country: Côte d'Ivoire (nine caps, three goals)
Diomande was another new arrival to the Bundesliga last summer, joining Leipzig on a five-year deal from La Liga side CD Leganés. The Ivorian winger only turned 19 three months into the season, but is already putting in the performances of a player in his prime.
The winger, who normally lines up on the right but can also operate from the left, has contributed 12 goals and eight assists towards Leipzig’s march to UEFA Champions League qualification, making him their second-most potent player behind Christoph Baumgartner, who has just one more in each column.
The youngest player to score a Bundesliga hat-trick since Walter Bechtold back in November 1965 when he hit three against Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 13, Diomande’s feats are all the more impressive considering he creates so many chances for himself – he attempts more dribbles than any other player league-wide and some 69 percent of them are successful.
Lennart Karl
Age: 18 (born 22 February 2008)
Position: Attacking midfielder/winger
Club: Bayern Munich
Country: Germany (two caps)
Lennart Karl has proved another attacking player able to get fans off their seats, and perhaps yet more admirable is the fact he has had to penetrate a Bayern Munich side that already boasts some of the best wingers in the game in Michael Olise and Luis Díaz.
Karl has played his way into the side on a semi-regular basis – indeed he is the youngest Bayern player ever to hit 20 Bundesliga matches - and boasts 16 direct goal-involvements across all competitions, plundered at a rate of one every 120 minutes he has played.
A left-footer who prefers to line up on the right but can also start centrally, Karl is stylistically similar to Bayern club legend Arjen Robben, and played his way into Julian Nagelsmann’s Germany squad in March, winning his first two caps against Switzerland and Ghana.
Saïd El Mala
Age: 19 (born 26 August 2006)
Position: Winger
Club: Cologne
Country: Germany (23 youth international caps, eights goals)
Cologne have a happy history of left-wingers-turned centre-forwards, with Lukas Podolski perhaps first among those, and Saïd El Mala is fast treading a similar path to the 2014 FIFA World Cup winner with Germany, at least in terms of importance for the club.
El Mala is the Billy Goats’ top scorer with 12 goals, scored from 11 of his 33 outings in the Bundesliga this season. Incidentally, Cologne have not lost a game El Mala has scored in.
El Mala is a mazy dribbler rather than an explosive shooter like Podolski, and he could yet dance his way into Germany contention, if not in time for the World Cup this summer then surely in short order after it.
Ibrahim Maza
Age: 20 (born 24 November 2005)
Position: Attacking midfielder
Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Country: Algeria (15 caps, two goals)
Ibrahim Maza arrived at Leverkusen from hometown club Hertha Berlin last summer, tagged as a long-term replacement for Florian Wirtz, who left for Liverpool.
Yet his versatility has also seen him plug a Granit Xhaka-shaped gap deeper in midfield as well.
Maza has increasingly found himself alongside Aleix García in the centre of the park, from where he has enjoyed four of his six goal-involvements whilst improving the grittier side of his game – Maza now wins 53 percent of his duels and is the most fouled player on Bayer’s books.
A youth international teammate of El Mala for Germany, Maza is now up to 15 caps and counting with Algeria, whom he qualifies for through his parentage, and will likely line up for them at the World Cup this summer.
