Cult, taciturn, accurate: Bundesliga: These guys could take off
Newcomers, coaches and captains: It doesn’t matter whether they are young or experienced, but they are the ones to keep an eye on this season.
Julian Duranville
Julien Duranville
Source: IMAGO / Photostand
In January 2023, Borussia Dortmund paid 8.5 million for the then 16-year-old Belgian – and got nothing out of it. Plagued by injuries, Duranville only made three brief appearances in the Bundesliga in one and a half years.
Now he has turned up the heat in the pre-season, scoring against Lübeck in the DFB Cup. The BVB investment could pay off.
Hugo Ekitike
Hugo Ekitike
Quelle: IMAGO / Christian Schroedter
Some Eintracht Frankfurt fans may have wondered whether there was a mix-up when the 22-year-old Frenchman arrived from Paris at the end of January. His fitness level was catastrophic at the time.
Jackson Irvine
Jackson Irvine
Quelle: IMAGO / KBS-Picture
“Cult club with a cult captain” – that’s how bundesliga.com describes the 31-year-old leader of FC St. Pauli. Long hair, moustache, no agent – and he occasionally takes the bus to training.
The Australian brings a touch of down-to-earthness to the elite class. Will that also help with the mission to avoid relegation?
Frans Kraetzig
Frans Kraetzig
Source: IMAGO / Eibner
The comparisons were not long in coming. The parallels to the little big Philipp Lahm are too obvious. Matured as a loan player at VfB Stuttgart, world-class player as a colleague at FC Bayern.
Krätzig sees this as an incentive. The 21-year-old has made a good start at VfB: in the Supercup, he had not been on the field for a minute after being substituted, and he had already set up a goal.
Antonio Nusantara
Antonio Nusantara
Source: IMAGO / Revierfoto
The new RB Leipzig striker is not at all happy with his nickname. “I’m not the new Neymar, I’m the new Antonio,” Nusa clarified after his goal debut in the cup against Essen.
Michael Olise
Michael Olise
Those: IMAGO / Sven Simon
“Someone who stands out from the crowd with his quirkiness,” wrote the “SZ” newspaper about Michael Olise. The introduction round of the €55 million Bayern signing lasted three minutes, and the French Olympic silver medalist didn’t waste a word. The 22-year-old would much rather let his actions on the pitch speak for themselves. His assist in the cup against Ulm was only the beginning.
Marcel Rapp
Marcel Rapp
Source: dpa
He has gotten used to saying “Moin”, but otherwise the Holstein Kiel coach has remained true to his Baden dialect even in the far north. It hasn’t done him any harm: in his first position as head coach, Rapp led the “Störche” into the Bundesliga for the first time.
Now he wants to ensure that the upper echelons also have to get used to his tongue, and not just temporarily.
Martin Terrier
Martin Terrier
Those: IMAGO / Laci Perenyi
The real job of the striker, who came from Stade Rennes, is to score goals. He wants to do that in the Bundesliga in the future – regardless of the referee.
Keke Top
Keke Top
Source: IMAGO / Matthias Koch
Three goals in the cup against Cottbus, the match ball taken home as a souvenir, and the “Bild” newspaper dubbed him “King Keke”. The first competitive game in green and white couldn’t have gone better for the 20-year-old new signing from Bremen.
Source: sid
