The German football season traditionally starts with the first round of the DFB-Pokal, followed by the Bundesliga the following week.
Last week, we witnessed a couple of very interesting DFB-Pokal matches between the Bundesliga teams.
Some showed great form before the league kicked off, while others struggled immensely against inferior competition.
Over the last couple of years, the Bundesliga has developed into a league where younger players can thrive.
With most clubs being dependent on sales to keep their operations going, the league has produced many class players who have gone on to bigger clubs or even other leagues.
The latest examples of the Bundesliga’s great talent development are the two new Liverpool signings, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitiké.
Both made huge jumps in their ability over the course of the last season and are now key players for a rejuvenated Reds side under Arne Slot.
Not only have the best teams like Bayer Leverkusen or Eintracht Frankfurt been producing a lot of talent over the last couple of years, but pretty much every Bundesliga club has had some great players in their squad.
In this tactical analysis and scout report, we will examine three players to watch this season in the Bundesliga.
These players play for three different teams and are in three different stages of their careers.
Yan Diomande Scout Report At RB Leipzig 2025/2026
The first player we are going to look at is not German and has not progressed through the German youth system at all, but I still believe that he has the biggest chance of an absolute breakout season in the Bundesliga this year.
His name is Yan Diomande.
Diomande has had a very interesting career path so far at only 18 years of age.
Born in the Ivory Coast, Diomande moved to the US as a child; he played football there in high school and later for DME Academy.
At the end of 2024, Diomande signed a contract in Madrid for La Liga side CD Leganés.
He was supposed to play for the B team to start his career in Spain, but he was quickly promoted to the first team.
He made a couple of appearances in La Liga, but his new team got relegated.
RB Leipzig triggered his release clause after just 10 games with his new team, paying €20m to sign the 18-year-old winger.
This was major business for Leganés.
At 1.80m, Diomande has very long legs, which make him seem taller than he is.
The biggest strength of the young winger is his ability to move down the wing with ease.
He has elite short-area quickness and pace, making him very explosive and nearly impossible for any full-back to contain for 90 minutes.
He combines his athletic ability with great dribbling.
He is very well coordinated and always keeps the ball at his feet during duels, making change-of-direction movements and quick touches with both feet look easy.
This makes him incredibly dangerous around the box, where he can always move past defenders and get into shooting positions with ease.
With his powerful shot, he is also a threat to finish what he has started.
Here, we can see Diomande in the first round of the DFB-Pokal for RB Leipzig against Sandhausen.
Diomande is not just great with the ball; he also shows a great work ethic in the press.
In the picture above, we can see him moving quickly laterally to the inside, forcing the Sandhausen defender to the outside, and then using his sudden burst to easily apply a lot of pressure on the opponent’s build-up.
Not only is he very keen on working in the press, but he is also very clever for his age in these situations.
Considering RB Leipzig’s playing style, this will be key for him to earn his minutes.
The pressure ends up in a high regain for RB Leipzig because the right back intercepts the pass, which bounces loose right into the direction of Diomande.
The winger can now show off his explosiveness once again, bursting towards the ball, easily beating out the nearest defender, getting a touch around him quickly, and breaking free towards the box.
With his pace, there was never a chance for anyone to get near Diomande in this situation.
He then shows off his vision and plays a perfect cutback towards his teammate at the edge of the box, creating a huge opportunity for Leipzig.
In the end, Diomande played a great game, scoring once and having many memorable moments against an inferior opponent.
Considering his age, it’s impressive that he can do so much with little experience and should have a starting spot locked down for the Bundesliga season.
Diomande also has some problems, especially with decision-making and composure on the ball.
Most of the time, the young Ivorian is trying to run through walls head-first, meaning that he always ends up in take-on situations despite passes being the better option.
He has already made some improvements during the preseason, but he will need even more development to fulfill his potential.
Still, I believe that the 18-year-old will be a key part of a successful RB Leipzig season and make his mark in the Bundesliga.
Said El Mala Scout Report At Köln 2025/2026
Looking at the German football landscape, Nordrhein-Westfalen, or NRW, has the highest density of professional clubs in the country.
Many clubs, such as Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, and Borussia Mönchengladbach, are from that area; therefore, many German players are produced there.
Looking at Florian Wirtz, he was born near Cologne and played for 1. FC Köln before joining Bayer Leverkusen, a transfer that the club still holds a grudge about, but this time, Effzeh could be on the right side of history.
Near Cologne in Krefeld, Said El Mala and his brother Malek El Mala were born in 2006 and 2005, respectively, and started playing football at a young age.
After getting kicked out of the Borussia Mönchengladbach academy, the brothers joined Viktoria Köln, a third-division club from Köln, in 2023 and instantly made a name for themselves.
In the summer of 2024, the much more prestigious FC Köln signed the brothers, but they were unable to register them due to a transfer ban imposed by UEFA on the club.
So, they left the two brothers on loan at Viktoria, a blessing in disguise.
Said El Mala became a starter in the 3. Liga at just 18 years of age and quickly went on to become the most interesting player in the league, scoring 13 goals and assisting five more in 32 caps last season.
An impressive season was followed by an even more impressive U19 EURO campaign, where El Mala scored four goals and assisted three more in just four games for Germany, becoming the star of the tournament.
Without even playing a game for 1. FC Köln, El Mala was hunted by Brighton & Hove Albion this summer, apparently with a bid exceeding €10m, but the young winger decided to extend his contract with Effzeh until 2030.
El Mala is a tall and physical winger with impressive decisiveness in the final third.
He always uses his pace and body to his advantage, often getting into the red area and finishing off his opportunities at a very good ratio.
Here we can see El Mala in a game in 3. Liga against the B-team of Borussia Dortmund.
Viktoria Köln played a long ball that was overhit, and El Mala was alone on his left flank against multiple BVB defenders.
Instead of giving up, El Mala chases the ball with high intensity, getting into a duel with a defender when there was no real chance of one, and winning the ball by pushing the opponent off the ball with his strength.
The winger is not just a physical presence; he is also very sound technically and has a lot of pace, making him a good dribbler.
Here, he instantly picks up the pace because he realises the chaos in the BVB defence and is trying to get into the box quickly.
El Mala fakes cutting inside, waits for the defender to move, and then cheekily nutmegs him, getting behind him in the process.
He now has a short path into the box.
The young winger never takes his foot off the gas pedal, going as far as he can with the ball at his feet, always scanning what happens in the box at the same time.
Then, he shows off his decisiveness, playing a sharp and perfectly timed cross towards the far post, where his teammates are already making a run.
He gets an assist here.
El Mala was a difference-maker in the 3. Liga last season and has all the talent to make it in the Bundesliga, newly appointed 1. FC Köln coach Lukas Kwasniok also has a very good opinion of his new player and highly regards him.
Even though he decided to extend his contract, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw big teams making moves for Said El Mala again in one year.
Mert Kömür Scout Report At Augsburg 2025/2026
The last player we are going to look at in this article can also play as a left winger, just like El Mala, but has primarily been an attacking midfielder throughout his career so far.
His name is Mert Kömür, and he plays for FC Augsburg.
Kömür, whose name is the nightmare of every single English-speaking football commentator, joined the Augsburg academy at just 14 years of age, made it through the ranks of the academy, and has already made 28 appearances for the senior team over the past two seasons, but failed to make the breakthrough into the starting XI consistently so far.
Now, with Sandro Wagner as the new manager in Augsburg, Kömür looks to have found a place in the starting formation for his new coach and is set for a breakthrough season in the Bundesliga.
Kömür is a very talented technician.
He is strong on the ball, shields it well, and has a high footballing IQ, making him a perfect glue guy for his team and always able to secure possession.
Here we can see him on his left side, keeping possession for his team.
He tries to get progressive here, taking on the defender.
Kömür is a very decent dribbler, but in the end, he decides to do the smart thing and play a backwards pass to his left-back, without risking a loss for his team while his team is in a very advanced position.
What makes Kömür such an interesting player now is his movement after he plays the ball.
Here, he instantly moves towards the outside and out of the back of his defender, allowing his teammate to play a simple pass back to him.
He now finds himself in a lot of space.
Kömür moves incredibly well off the ball, has a nice feel for finding open space, and is always ready to receive the ball from his teammates, making it easy for them to keep the passing game going anywhere on the pitch.
Kömür glues the team together, enabling high ball security across the pitch.
With these abilities, Kömür can also progress the ball, as seen in the picture above.
He plays a nice pass with the outside of his foot to his striker and keeps the momentum up by moving inside, ready to receive the lay-off quickly as well.
His teammate plays a horrible pass here, but Kömür keeps moving and is ready to receive between the lines again after that, which just shows how he can impact the game.
Augsburg have been a team known for their very unattractive way of playing football, and their new coach, Sandro Wagner, wants to change that.
With his off-the-ball movement and his technical ability on the ball, Kömür has the potential to become a key part of the reinvented Augsburg team.
The Germany U20 international is set to have a huge year in the Bundesliga.
Conclusion
In the end, all three players introduced in this article will start the season as starters for their teams, but will they be able to maintain their intensity and form throughout the season?
Especially for Diomande, it will be interesting to see whether he can maintain his form and deliver consistent performances for a team like RB Leipzig, given he has played only 11 games at the professional level so far.
For Said El Mala, the question is whether he can be good enough against the ball. Kwasniok values high-intensity players, and while he has been able to do that in 3. Liga, the Bundesliga is quicker and better, so he needs to work hard to keep it up.
For Kömür, he simply needs to find consistency this season.
He has shown flashes of potential over the last two seasons, but has never been able to sustain his form long enough to earn a starting spot for more than a couple of games.
He needs to take the next step in that regard this season.
While I decided to highlight these three players, there will be many more interesting young players making their mark this season.
