Welcome back to the Bundesliga Preview for 2023/24, where we will be going position by position and ranking the top players that the league has to offer. We now look at the attacking midfielder position, which is perhaps the most stacked position in the league right now.
20. Romano Schmid (Werder Bremen)
The Austrian has been a good servant of Bremen for a few years and may get the breakthrough to regular minutes this season.
19. Woo-yeong Jeong (VfB Stuttgart)
The Bayern Munich academy product enjoyed a few good seasons at SC Freiburg and now finds himself on the precipice of breaking into the starting berths at Stuttgart.
18. Chris Führich (VfB Stuttgart)
Another part of Stuttgart’s exciting attacking cohort, Führich too is on the brink of regular minutes for the first team.
17. Kevin Stöger (VfL Bochum)
Stöger has been a proper journeyman through his career in Germany, and has found success as a key part of Bochum’s midfield this season. Stöger is a pragmatic player off the ball but has the vision to unlock defenses while on it.
16. Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (SC Freiburg)
Kofi-Kyereh is another player on this list who is on the verge of regular minutes for his team, with a regular role in the Freiburg attack surely on the cards for the Ghanaian international.
15. Fábio Carvalho (RB Leipzig)
Carvalho is a technically brilliant attacker who attracted the interest of Liverpool for a reason. Now at Leipzig on loan, Carvalho is sure to develop well into a top attacker sooner rather than later, and Leipzig may rue the lack of an option to buy in his loan deal.
14. Jamie Leweling (VfB Stuttgart)
A singular bright light in Greuther Fürth’s dark foray into the top flight of German football last season, Leweling proved himself a clinical finisher and simple but effective creator from advanced positions.
13. Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund)
Reyna is a smart player with some great ideas on the pitch, and this combined with his explosive pace make him the perfect player for a team looking to hit bigger teams on the counter. However some troubles with technical execution and a struggle for regular minutes keep him off the higher places on this list.
12. Emil Forsberg (RB Leipzig)
One of the few players from the Leipzig project whose dedication to the club I actually respect, Forsberg has been with the team since they were languishing in the lower divisions of German football, and has been a constant part of the squad since. A true loyal servant to the team.
11. Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin)
This is the one signing of Union’s that I’m not too sure about as he just doesn’t seem to have any clear role in their system, but Aaronson is a very talented player and I’m sure the Union Berlin technical team have plans for him, as they are far too competent to make a move like this without any plan.
10. Mario Götze (Eintracht Frankfurt)
We all know the Icarus-esque story of Götze, but unlike Icarus it seems like the former golden child of world football has had a renaissance. It may not be the grandiose return that one may have hoped for, but he has certainly bounced back after both physical and mental health issues derailed his career.
9. Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund)
Reus is a legend of the game, no two words about it. He may be slowing down as his career unwinds, but the former German international is still a danger.
8. Christoph Baumgartner (RB Leipzig)
Leipzig’s new €24m signing was unplayable at times for Hoffenheim, but let down by some poor finishing from his former teammates. He will be a proper threat for Leipzig.
7. Lovro Majer (VfL Wolfsburg)
Wolfsburg may genuinely have the most complete midfield in the league, as Majer is supported by some great defensive profiles while being one of the best creators in Europe. Majer enjoyed a great season at Rennes, marred by the club’s failure to get into the Champions League, but he will flourish at Wolfsburg.
6. Dani Olmo (RB Leipzig)
Olmo is one of the top prospects in Europe still, continuing his development into a world class attacking midfielder. If anyone wants to know how quickly Olmo can change a game, just look to the DfL Supercup where Olmo basically single-handedly won Leipzig their third ever trophy.
5. Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich)
Müller is indescribable. He somehow seems even less sharp than usual on the ball, less clinical, and less fit. But somehow, Müller still changes every game he sets foot on with his unbelievable range of passing and vision. It’s not just ‘like he knows what’s going to happen,’ he KNOWS what is going to happen.
4. Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund)
Productive in any creative position across the front-line and even in midfield, Brandt is a player with a very specific set of skills but with the ability to adapt those skills to different roles. Brandt’s main strength is his forward passing, which combined with smart decision making and the willingness to break shape to press makes him the ideal player to support an attack both on and off the ball.
3. Xavi Simons (RB Leipzig)
I wish I released this article sooner so I could say ‘I told you so’, but it’s too late now. Simons has arrived in Germany, and arrived with a bang after an elite season at PSV Eindhoven where he was, and I say this with chest: one of the best attackers in all of Europe. He is nothing short of a genius, both tactically with his positioning and timing of his runs and especially technically, having been coached in La Masia and PSG academies.
2. Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
This is going to get me burnt at the stake, but I don’t care. Musiala is a special, special player, truly a generational talent. The best dribbler in the world, bar none, and with all the creativity and finishing to produce stupid numbers in the future once his attacking discipline is brought in line, as well as an impressive defensive workrate. However, it is that lack of discipline and poor decision making that takes him down a notch, as it seems sometimes that Musiala wants to impress in wake of himself rather than win the game for the team.
1. Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
Photo by Stefan Brauer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
Wirtz is the future of creative football. Musiala may be a better individual player, but Wirtz just changes the way an entire attack functions around him. Wirtz is possibly the best pure creator of this generation, as his incisive passes are one of the best in Europe already and he has paired it with a clinical touch and even some impressive dribbling. Wirtz’s positioning and sense of space too is phenomenal, as he regularly finds himself in pockets in advanced regions which other players wouldn’t even think to inhabit or drift into. Even at an early age, he has unlearnt a habit that many players are unable to break even as experienced players: stop moving. Wirtz doesn’t feel the need to move if he feels he is in a good space, and it pays dividends as he often receives the ball and is able to quickly change his momentum to get past defenders. One of the best players in the world, and he’s just 20.
