Bundesliga 2024/25 - Next season it will be bigger - This season it will be better

Wolfsburg sign 18 year old Norwegian forward Anny Kerim-Lindland from Nurnberg.

 

I've got opinions on various names within this top 5... but I can't be bothered to repeat them anymore lol

 

I honestly still don't know what Reuteler is meant to be positionally lol, with Tauana Mahmoud statistically having a better overall contribution to her team this season than what we witnessed from Brand...

Mahmoud playing for a worse 7th place Bremen would provide the same amount of assists as Brand this season (5) but less goals (2 compared to Brand's 5). But in factors like key passes, passes into the penalty area, crosses into the penalty area, shot creating actions, progressive carries, and fouls drawn, Mahmoud was either above or equal to Brand...

Bühl the for the first time in her career would be most effective AM/WF this season, Zicai the most improved AM/WF (better than Memeti..), but beyond Brand being the far more successful AM/WF in 1v1 dribbling, Mahmoud should probably feel very unlucky not to be in the top 5 of this list.

 

Harder's preferred style to exist within both FW/CAM roles completely sucked the life out of Schüller this season, and saw saw one of the leagues best forwards end with limited minutes, and poor statistical data, that would be worse than her time with Essen...

And with this vacuum, we've seen Hoffmann, and Kramer able to move into a top 5 list that doesn't include the main striker from the leagues championship winning team lol. (This is an issue must fix come nest season...)

Mühlhaus being able to end this season as the leagues #1 player for shots on target might be a hint towards her name being on this list next season. But it's genuinely interesting seeing 3 clubs outside the top 4 with one of their FW's represented on this list.

 

Selina Cerci, Nicole Anyomi und Giovanna Hoffmann sind drei heiße Kandidatinnen für einen Transfer zu den Wölfinnen🐺 [SportBild] pic.twitter.com/PHI1vWwzRj

— Fußball der Frauen 90min.de (@FF_90min) May 28, 2025

Reports say Kleinherne has already joined Wolfsburg too.

 

Mehrere namhafte Spielerinnen verlassen Eintracht Frankfurt im Sommer. Der Verein verfolgt eine interessante Finanzierungsstrategie, doch passt diese zu den ambitionierten Zielen des Klubs?

Ein Kommentar von @carmen_stadi ✍️https://t.co/Na1eSzu155

— Fußball der Frauen 90min.de (@FF_90min) May 29, 2025

I could sense this was going to happen lol... a new financing strategy you say...

 

Wolfsburg have also signed Norway international 31yo CB Guro Bergsvand from WSL's Brighton.

 

A very tactically immature Brand will have a huge struggle ahead of her trying to gain meaningful playing time with Lyon, but in my opinion seeing a 19yo Alber moving to a WSL club like Chelsea feels almost career ending...

Yes, I know this sounds needlessly dramatic... but knowing Alber's a wide forward who typically shines from the left, but is equally adept at remaining effective from the right side of the field too. I find it crazy she's moved from a league/club known for developing youth talent, to happily sit behind FOUR senior internationals...

Baltimore, Reiten, James, Kaneryd, already in Chelsea's wide forward roles, meaning even if Alber currently one of Europe's best youth prospects, I have an incredibly hard time believing she won't find her short term future set with various random loan deals with various random clubs...

Going from a19yo starting games in the Frauen Bundesliga, with the real possibility of being elevated to the senior wnt next season. Versus sitting on the bench of a WSL club with limited access to playing time... ughhh.

I might be even more disappointed with Bayern here, as they're in desperate need of at least two more high quality wide forwards, and would have been a potentially perfect home for a young domestic prospect like Alber.

So... maybe the wnt selects her for the Euro's team now, as the wnt will elevate anyone associated to a WSL club.... But I just hope Chelsea haven't signed Alber in bad faith, where having her under contract more important to them than actually seeing her truly develop into an elite player.

 

Great news, Kathrin Hendrich has decided to escape Wolfenstein castle & join the Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL!

 

Unlike Europe, in the US we believe you got to start at the bottom to make it to the top

besides the NWSL is an incredible well balanced league, with the talented domestic & internationals players Chicago got, they probably be battling for 3rd place in the Bundi

 

@Lohmann just wanted to add to my last post, it’s not that the Bundesliga doesn’t have less talent but like I’ve previously posted, the subs of Bayern & Wolfsburg would make the 3rd & 4th top teams in the league—-and you can’t dispute this theory as long as those two clubs keep on winning the #1 & #2 spots in the league year after year.

Chicago has top American players Swanson, Davidson & Naeher but Davidson got hurt & Swanson decided to have a baby. Other US notables; u23’s Joseph & Hockling/Roccaro & Saab with some NT call ups

foreign players include Ludmilla(BR) Hayashi(JA) Gomes(PO) Grosso(CA)M Lopez(SP) Kuikka(FI)

I feel definitely a better lineup than Frankfurt if only Swanson didn’t decide to have an baby

and that’s been a bit of an problem this year; too many of our top players decided to sit out this season(since the WC still two years away). Honestly I think right now the German NT is stronger than the US one

 

Melanie Leupolz beendet ihre großartige Karriere diesen Sommer! 👏

🏆 Europameisterin
🥇 Olympiasiegerin
🏆 2x Deutscher Meister, 4x Englischer Meister
🏆 3x Englische Pokalsiegerin
🏆 1x Englische Supercupsiegerin
🏆 1x Englische Ligapokalsiegerin pic.twitter.com/hmpk8196mT

— Fußball der Frauen 90min.de (@FF_90min) June 13, 2025

Leupolz retires from football with a rather impressive list of honours... But having seen her emergence from Freiburg, I still think her early ALC tear actually meant we probably never really witnessed her full potential as an athlete.

However.. regardless on the ALC tear forcing her to change her game, Leupolz would still be a central part of a Bayern side that people forget very close to reaching a UWCL final, with it also funny to think now how WSL fans will likely have a very different opinion on Leupolz as a player, compared to the way people view her time within the Bundesliga.

Never really able to establish herself as a main starter for the wnt, only spending a few years as a key member of a strong Bayern, the peak of Leupolz career might be best viewed by many through the lens of winning titles in England, helping Chelsea's women establish themselves as a domestically dominate force, no?

 

When did the ACL happen?

She was frustratingly just very okay for many years, then had some strong years for Bayern and Chelsea until she became pregnant… in hindsight perhaps she should’ve waited a bit with that if her plan was always to retire rather early anyways. She’s only 31 and still has some good years in her left

 

it’s always hard to come back from bring pregnant & having an baby to take care off, plus Leupolz lived sorta ‘an charmed life’ as she was romantically linked for an long time to Sami Khedira.
Remembering what Jurgen Klinsman always said; “the best soccer players usually come from ghettos & slums, as they’ll grave “The Hunger’’ to succeed in sports compared to the more well endowed—-obviously meant more for broso but still Melanie having an famous millionaire boyfriend may have contributed to not having “The Hunger”’.

 

I can't remember exactly when it happened, but she missed the 2016 u20 WWC due to her suffering a ACL tear, and when she returned it was clear Leupolz not the same type of athlete as she was prior this injury; this to the effect her recent retirement also based on her suffering multiple MCL tears in a span of a few months, having it feel like she might be similar to Nadine Keßler, in the fact her knees never really recovered from the various damage sustained in her youth...

In her early career, she was a completely different player to the one everyone remembers now. Not only being really physically dominant, but also a very quick/dynamic mover with and without the ball.

So dynamic an athlete, Leupolz would instantly impress for a young talented Freiburg, and be the u19 wnt captain as a box to box mid-fielder, before quickly being promoted to the senior wnt... but as a wide forward...

But once she suffered her first knee injury, she'd be forced to return to football as a different player, using a more controlled passing based style, no longer being able to rest on her prior dominating attributes of athleticism.

I have to say... she still gets a lot of credit being able to change her style and establish her self within a slightly different defensively responsible role at the heart of a strong Bayern, while remaining a long term squad member of the wnt too.

Germany never really lacking for quality CM options, I think this might also explain the frustrating sense of Leupolz "just OK" whenever your describing her game; always making it strange to think about Leupolz thriving in the WSL, even reaching a UWCL final with Chelsea, causing English fans to believe their version of Leupolz always one of Germany's elite players lol..

Being a slower more methodical pass first DM pivot, never really a style that was common or particularly successful within German women's football. Instead of becoming the better version of Lena Goeßling, I think post injury Chelsea playing Leupolz just never really fit what Germany's wnt coaches wanted, or needed.

The highly impressive young player who broke into the senior wnt, not the same impressive player we'd see at Bayern, or anything like the completely different talent Chelsea would sign. And yet she could argue her most successful period was who she'd become at Chelsea, making you wonder if the wnt wasted the traits she potential offered...

Senß, and Nüsken, both closer but better than the Freiburg/Bayern version of Leupolz, the next gen of potential senior wnt DM talent like Diehm - Piljic - Gräwe, are all probably variations of the Chelsea version of Leupolz lol.

 

Wolfsburg bring another foreign recruit to their first team, this time 25yo Norwegian wnt Thea Bjelde.

While it obvious why Wolfsburg would need to recruit a lot of new players, the idea this ANOTHER CM feels strange if they have no intention of allowing any more recognised names to leave...

Wolfsburg's current list of mid-fielders...
-------------------------------------- Huth/Xhemaili --------------------------------------
------- Kielland/Peddemors/Hagel ---------- Lattwein/Papp/Bjelde -------------

This team also has 6 CB's now lol. I feel like there's surely a few more departures set to be announced..

 

Happy for Thea. This is actually a player I've had the privilege to play against... as she played with the boys

Always wondered when she would take the next step and go abroad. She plays a lot as a RB for our NT and is pretty solid there, but she's really a midfielder. Seen her for Vålerenga and while she's good, she's not been the beast like she was in her youth. She's rather small and I'm not sure what kind of midfielder she exactly is lol - pretty okay in most aspects but can't really say what she excels at.

Watching her I'm immediately thinking of Elisa Senss, but Senss is like a way better player so I'm really not sure what Wolfsburg is doing here

 

So Kellermann has basically said that they plan with her as a RB so… guess her days as a midfielder could be over as the RB role is hers for the WNT as well