Deniz Undav: The Rising Star of German Football

He never came through a polished academy. No glossy youth system, no carefully manicured pathway. Deniz Undav arrived in professional football the hard way, via SV Meppen, and built everything else himself.

“He’s worked hard for his success,” said Jürgen Klopp, now Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull, adding simply: “I like the way he plays.”

It was a neat summary of a career that has refused to follow the usual script.

From Meppen he climbed, step by step. Union Saint-Gilloise. Brighton & Hove Albion. Then, in 2024, VfB Stuttgart. At 29, when many forwards are already defined, Undav exploded. A one-year loan turned into a revelation, and then into a record transfer fee. This season, no German attacker can match his raw output: 37 goal contributions, split into 24 goals and 13 assists.

And yet, as the World Cup looms, he sits on the bench.

A scorer under suspicion

Julian Nagelsmann has chosen a different hierarchy. For now, Undav is an impact substitute, not a starter. The fault lines in that decision cracked open in March, during Germany’s 2-1 win over Ghana in a training camp friendly.

Undav came on. Undav scored the late winner. The debate began.

Instead of riding the wave of a match-winning moment, Nagelsmann publicly questioned whether the striker could maintain that sharpness over 70 minutes in 42-degree heat. The national coach suggested that after such a long run, under such conditions, the finish might not have been there. He framed Undav as a player under pressure to justify any starting role, saying he could “keep going as long as he’s comfortable with his own goal tally.”

For a forward who has spent the season dragging VfB’s attack to new heights, it landed badly. Across Germany, the discussion flared: how could the country’s most productive German attacker be treated as an afterthought?

The storm did not last long. Nagelsmann, only 38 and still learning the brutal glare of the national job, reversed course. Speaking on MagentaTV, he apologised, calling his own comments “far too harsh for public consumption.” He admitted that conversations with his wife, Lena, had helped him see the misstep. By then, he had already apologised directly to Undav, who accepted.

The episode did not change the pecking order, but it did underline something: Undav is no longer a fringe story. He is central to the national conversation.

Locked-in stars, restless challenger

Nagelsmann has made other things crystal clear. Kai Havertz and Florian Wirtz will be regulars in Germany’s attack. Havertz, “now getting back into form,” is also central to Klopp’s World Cup vision. “He is extremely important,” Klopp stressed.

Around them, the cast is rich. Jamal Musiala, Nick Woltemade and Leroy Sané all have strong chances of starting at the World Cup overseas. The talent pool is deep, the competition brutal.

Undav, despite his numbers, must wait.

Chasing Mario Gomez – and a bigger deal

Back in Stuttgart, the picture looks very different. With 37 combined goals and assists, Undav already sits second in VfB’s all-time single-season rankings. Only Mario Gomez, in that thunderous 2008-09 campaign, stands above him.

Opta’s numbers are stark: Gomez finished that season with 35 goals and six assists. Undav needs just four more goal contributions to match that mark. He has three Bundesliga fixtures and a cup final against FC Bayern Munich to get there.

Four actions. Four decisive touches. Across four matches that could define not only VfB’s season, but Undav’s status in the club’s history.

There is more at stake than records. Contract talks are ongoing, and his form gives him leverage. He is reported to be pushing for a club-record salary, a demand that would have sounded outrageous when he was grinding away in Meppen. Now it feels almost inevitable that an agreement will be found.

From the fringes of the system to the centre of the argument, Undav has forced his way into every room that once ignored him. The next question is no longer whether he belongs there.

It is how much longer anyone can afford to leave a striker like this on the bench.