3 Under-The-Radar Bundesliga Standouts For 2024/2025 – Marco Friedl, Maximilian Eggestein & Philipp Treu Scouting Report

Last Saturday, the 2024/2025 Bundesliga season came to a close.

Over 34 matchdays, many surprises, many non-surprises, and many emotions were once again the driving force behind one of the most exciting leagues in European football.

In the end, most of the final results came as expected, with Bayern Munich winning the title and Harry Kane winning the Torjägerkanone for the best goalscorer in the Bundesliga.

Behind that, a lot of things happened that many people did not expect before the season started.

There were a lot of big storylines this season, like Omar Marmoush turning into a world-class striker for Eintracht Frankfurt and leaving for Manchester City in the winter transfer window, Borussia Dortmund’s rise back to the UEFA Champions League under Nico Kovač or the end of the career at FC Bayern for Bundesliga legend Thomas Müller, but that’s not what we are going to focus on in this article.

What makes the Bundesliga so special and dear to its fans is the fact that the small clubs pour their hearts into the seasons, and these teams can surprise expectations through their hard work.

Therefore, this tactical analysis and scout report will examine 3 Bundesliga players who had a great season over the past year but did not get the attention and media coverage they deserved.

We will examine Werder Bremen skipper Marco Friedl, SC Freiburg midfielder Maximilian Eggestein, and FC St. Pauli full-back Philipp Treu and explore how they were crucial to the success of their respective teams.

Marco Friedl Scouting Report At Werder Bremen

Werder Bremen barely missed out on the European places for the second season in a row, but their season can still be considered a huge success.

51 points in 34 games and eighth place in the final Bundesliga table in just their third season after promotion, Werder has had an amazing development after their relegation in 2021.

A big part of this progression was Marco Friedl, a player who was relegated with Werder four years ago but decided to stay and then went on to achieve amazing development himself.

Friedl had a rough start to his Bundesliga career in a Werder team with many problems.

He played as a left-back at first but was then put back into the centre-back spot.

At first, Friedl played as the left centre-back in a back-three, but his coach, Ole Werner, put him into the central role last season.

He then took another leap in his performances and grew into his role as captain, which he has held for the past three years.

Werder has had some defensive troubles under Werner in the last couple of seasons since returning to the German top flight, but Marco Friedl has been an exception for the Northerners.

The Austrian centre-back has a relatively lean build for his position, and his past as a full-back often shows, but his intensity and pace make up for it.

He is one of the best players in defending duels in the entire Bundesliga and knows precisely how to utilise his strengths.

In the situation above, Werder was still chasing European places in the Bundesliga and barely managed to win 1-0 against a VfL Bochum side facing relegation.

Still, the team lost the ball high up the field, and their counter-press failed miserably, allowing Bochum one final counterattack deep into stoppage time.