At the beginning of May, Bayer Leverkusen officially announced the signing of talented Algerian midfielder Ibrahim Maza from Hertha Berlin, activating a €12 million release clause in his contract to secure his services.
The 2023/2024 German champions made the move quickly, given the interest Maza was garnering with the summer transfer window looming.
With Florian Wirtz likely to leave for Liverpool, it’s possible that the new-look Leverkusen under Erik ten Hag could have Maza as his potential successor as they look to regenerate the squad with fresh, exciting talent, which the Algerian international falls into.
This scout report and player analysis will examine Maza’s qualities and what he can bring to Leverkusen as they potentially begin a post-Wirtz era next season.
Who Is Ibrahim Maza?
Ibrahim Maza is a 19-year-old attacking midfielder who is 5’11’ (180 cm or 1.80 m) and weighs 154 lbs (70 kg).
While his primary position is playing as the most advanced midfielder behind a striker, he can also play a little deeper, which he did throughout this season as an attack-minded #8, or central midfielder, in Hertha’s 4-3-3 scheme.
He can also play on the left wing, cutting in on his stronger right foot as an inverted winger.
Formerly a German youth international, Maza committed his international allegiance to Algeria in 2024, making his senior competitive debut in an Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier last October.
The Berlin-born youngster joined capital club Hertha at the age of 12 in 2018.
He went on to earn his first professional contract and debut for the club half a decade later, in 2023.
Since then, Maza has established himself as one of the most exciting young offensive players in the 2. Bundesliga, particularly breaking through in 2024/2025 by scoring and assisting others to get double digits in direct goal contributions.
His performances this term, his low release clause, and his age made him an attractive option, with numerous clubs linked to him before he eventually put pen to paper to sign with Leverkusen last month.
So, what will the promising Maza bring to his new club?
Let’s examine the data for his 2024/2025 season and consider some of his strengths and areas for improvement.
Ibrahim Maza Radar Map 2024/2025
Looking at this radar map of his season as a whole, the metric in which Maza performed strongest was in his dribbling, one of his strongest assets, where he ranked in the 84th percentile in per-90 contributions.
He also ranked well in shots per 90 and progressive and dangerous passes per 90, all in the 72nd percentile or higher.
What stands out a little surprisingly, though, is his defensive numbers.
He ranked in the 82nd percentile among attacking midfielders in his division for defensive duels won as a percentage, and in the 65th percentile for aerial duels won as a percentage.
His defensive positioning rank is also good, ranking just about in the 63rd percentile.
His lowest-ranking metrics are goal contributions per 90 and accurate passing as a percentage, suggesting that his overall end product could have been better for the season.
However, his strong showing in defensive and dribbling metrics, along with his output of 10 goals and assists, suggests that there is an exciting offensive talent who is also willing and capable of putting in the work on the defensive side of the game.
That made him a coveted prospect, which is why Leverkusen stopped in early to ensure he was included in their squad on a five-year deal.
Ibrahim Maza Strengths
As we noted from his radar map earlier in the article, Maza’s most impressive attribute, according to the data, is his dribbling ability.
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) June 10, 2025
In the first example against Magdeburg at home, he allows the ball to come across to his right foot because he is aware that if he controls with his left, it will get intercepted by the nearby defender.
In the same movement, he pulls the ball back behind him and then beats a second man with a close dribble, taking out two players in the span of two seconds before moving into the space in front of him with the ball and attempting a lob pass to a forward in the box that’s just too hard.
In the second clip, against Greuther Fürth, he controls the ball and brings it onto his right foot, but realises two Fürth players are going in that direction, and his teammates on that side are underloaded.
He then cleverly manages to turn just as the nearby marker attempts to move in and intercept the ball from him, using his body and right foot well to spin around him and not only get himself out of danger, but to get the ball moving forward towards the attacking half again.
These examples showcase Maza’s ability to dribble and solve problems even in tight spaces, similar to the man he’ll probably replace at his new club in Wirtz.
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) June 9, 2025
One of the tools he has in his locker that aids him in his dribbling is his ability to change direction with sharp turns, which helps him evade opposing players and move into space.
Above, we can see three examples of that.
The first one is against Köln away, where Maza is seen moving into the left half-space to offer himself as a progressive passing option for his defender in the build-up phase.
As the pass is played towards him, the Köln defender at the top of the pitch senses an opportunity to nick the ball off him as it comes to Maza’s feet.
But Maza cleverly turns early and allows the ball to come across his body so that by the time it gets to his favoured right foot, he’s already beaten the defender by going in the opposite direction than he anticipated, thus allowing him to advance into the opposition half and carry the ball forward from deep.
The second example is a fantastic long-range goal that he scored against Ulm at home.
He received the ball centrally after a pass across the field from the right side.
He initially controls it with his left foot before switching it back to his right as the defender approaches to cover him.
With the turn and change of direction, he takes him out of the equation before unleashing a ferocious strike into the back of the net.
The third example led to another goal, against Paderborn at home.
He again allowed the pass to come across his body and began his turn early while creating enough separation from the nearby defender.
This allows him to come infield on his strong foot and place a low strike into the bottom corner from just outside the penalty area.
According to the data, another strength of his is his defensive work rate and contributions off the ball to help his team at the opposite end.
While Maza may be an all-action, attack-minded midfielder, he does not shy away from doing the dirty work.
He regularly drops deep and times his recovery attempts well.
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) June 10, 2025
In the first situation above, as the team travels from home to Paderborn, the long ball from the visitors is headed towards the left-hand side of Hertha’s defence, with the players in front casually jogging back to get closer to the play.
After the Hertha left-back fails to handle the ball properly and gives up possession, Paderborn now have three players on that side ready to pounce and move towards the Hertha goal.
Maza notices the threat potentially heading towards his team’s penalty area and accelerates a bit quicker to get into position and potentially recover the ball from the opposing attacker entering that area.
Although his touch wasn’t enough to kill the attack, had he not made the run to close down the space in time, it could have been more dangerous for his team and potentially resulted in a scoring opportunity.
Similarly, in the second clip, a loose clearance falls to an Eintracht Braunschweig player outside the penalty area, who then plays it short to a teammate in a similar space as the Paderborn attacker in the first example.
Once again, Maza is aware of the threat early and promptly moves across to close the player down, but this time, he does so successfully by recovering the ball from behind and regaining it for his team.
There are many examples in every game of Maza making defensive plays.
Either by positioning himself well, to begin with, to make a recovery or interception or by pressing and looking to win the ball back.
He takes a proactive approach to this facet of the game, and with his pace, situational awareness, and energy, he can be a real asset to next season’s Leverkusen team off the ball as well.
Ibrahim Maza Areas Of Improvement
Maza is a direct player who seeks to get the ball in areas where offensive opportunities exist for him and his team.
While this is normally a good trait for an attack-minded central midfielder, at times, he can be too trigger-happy with the timing and selection of his passing.
Again, we’ll examine three examples below where his decision-making and patience on the ball could have been improved.
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) June 9, 2025
First is a clip from the Schalke home game, where the ball comes to him after being intercepted by his teammate, and his subsequent quick attempt to switch the play to the opposite side is cut out, conceding possession back to the visitors.
He had two players nearby that he could have played short to, which would have allowed Hertha to establish control of the ball and get players from deep in position to move forward.
Instead, he looked to play a pass that wasn’t really on, with Schalke’s defensive line well-placed to deal with it.
The pass itself wasn’t good either, but the decision to make it in this situation underlines his eagerness to attack.
However, not being patient or making the right choice would have helped his team more.
Then we have another situation away to Köln where Maza comes deep almost as a left-back by the time the ball gets to him in the build-up phase.
Although Hertha have eight other players still in their own half, instead of looking to take time to consider his best options, Maza releases the ball early behind the opposition defence to try and get the lone forward in and exploit the space down the left-hand side in the attacking half.
Once again, the pass ends up being poor and results in a throw-in, but it’s another instance where going with it wasn’t the best idea, as it gave the ball back to the opponent too easily due to a lack of patience that usually comes with experience for midfielders.
The last example at Magdeburg is similar to the other two.
Maza receives the ball in space and looks to play one over the top, this time on his left foot, for a runner, but he overhits the pass and gives it right back to Magdeburg via their goalkeeper.
While his overall attacking game is promising, and he’s willing to work on the defensive side, if there’s any particular aspect that he needs to improve, it’s his decision-making and pass selection when he receives the ball, especially in transitional phases.
In theory, it may be a good idea always to look ahead and try to move the ball forward as quickly as possible, but in practice, it’s not always the best or most practical solution.
Sometimes, it can help slow things down and analyse your surroundings better before taking action.
This will come with experience, though, for Maza, especially playing at a high level like the Bundesliga alongside more experienced midfielders like Robert Andrich and Granit Xhaka, who will show him the ropes and help him break bad habits on the ball he may have.
The range of passing is there, though.
It’s just a matter of growing his pass appreciation and understanding what kind of pass is needed and when.
Ibrahim Maza Vs Florian Wirtz Comparison
With Wirtz most likely leaving this summer and Maza also being a right-footed attacking midfielder who is a strong dribbler and ball-carrier, naturally, there are some parallels drawn between the two and the thinking that Maza will be seen as his successor at the BayArena.
Whether he’s a like-for-like replacement for the German international is a question mark, but let’s examine how he compares to him in terms of some key performance indicators (KPIs) to see where they excel on the pitch.
Florian Wirtz Stats
First, Wirtz’s dataset among attacking midfielders in the Bundesliga is condensed into a few key metrics.
As we can see, he clearly excels as one of the best players in his position in the league, particularly in terms of shot assists, with 2.05 per game, and the distances of his progressive carries on the ball per game, at a score of 96.69.
He also has an expected goal (xG) per game of 0.31 and an expected threat (xT) per game of 0.19, both of which are the highest in Germany’s top flight this year.
Ibrahim Maza Stats
Now, look at Maza’s dataset and compare Wirtz’s numbers in the first division to Maza’s in the second tier.
The distance of progressive carries for Maza is impressive among attacking midfielders in the 2. Bundesliga with a score of 48.9, but that’s only enough to be half of Wirtz’s total in the same metric.
His 1.3 shot assists per game are also among the best in his division, but they are 0.92 lower overall than Wirtz’s.
His xG and xT are 0.17 and 0.16, respectively, which also rank quite well in the Zweite and aren’t too far off the Leverkusen star.
While many factors need to be considered when examining these numbers, such as team and league quality, among other things, it helps to paint a somewhat clear picture of how they rank in their respective divisions this year and what Maza does well compared to what Wirtz excels at.
While Maza plays deeper at Hertha as more of a #8, he is also capable of playing as a left-winger and attacking midfielder.
So if Leverkusen do end up losing Wirtz to Liverpool as expected, perhaps Maza could make for a direct replacement purely based on which spaces he likes to take up and occupy on the field.
Conclusion
Ibrahim Maza is one of the most exciting young attacking talents to emerge from the German youth football system in recent years, and he will finally get to showcase his talent on the big stage next season as a Bayer Leverkusen player.
Although things have changed at the club since the time of his signing, with Xabi Alonso heading to Real Madrid and being replaced by Erik ten Hag, along with Florian Wirtz potentially moving to England, the plans for Maza probably will not as he’s seen as another addition to a team that already possesses some exciting young attacking talents coming through or already in their ranks.
How he’ll fare making the step up to the Bundesliga remains to be seen, but the potential is there, given his diverse offensive skills, including his dribbling, passing range, and ability to score from long range.
While he may not need media comparisons to Wirtz, as he’s his own player and still early in his career, he has a bright future ahead.
Leverkusen could be where he takes his skills to the next level as the club looks to move in a new direction following a successful period under Alonso.
