"Ones to watch“ for Bundesliga Matchday 6
1.Jamie Leweling (VfB Stuttgart)
Once a great talent at 2. Bundesliga side Greuther Fürth, Jamie Leweling's potential seemed to be endless. But a rough time at Union Berlin let many people think that he might have taken a wrong turn and wouldn't be able to find his way back into being a great Bundesliga player. After a perfectly timed transfer to Stuttgart in 2023, Leweling is once again back to his best and able to show his qualities on the pitch week in week out - and these qualities didn't go unnoticed.
Non other than DFB coach Julian Nagelsamann called Leweling up for the next international break - a huge surprise to many, but deserving nontheless. In the current season, Leweling provided three goal contributions to a Stuttgart side who are still finding their feet - let's not forget they've had to rebuild half of their team after an outstanding 2023/24 campaign.
Leweling has slowly developed from a super-sub to a starter in this new Stuttgart side and with this new boost in confidence, he might be a big problem for a struggling Hoffenheim side who are facing Stuttgart on Sunday. Leweling was already succesfull and scored a goal in their last matchup which Stuttgart won 3-0. Let's see if Leweling can do it again.
2.Kauã Santos (Eintracht Frankfurt)
We might be witnessing the start of an amazing goalkeeper career right about now: and it wasn't even supposed to happen! Kauã Santos had to step in when Kevin Trapp got injured; only Bundesliga experts had heard of his name before that happened. But if he continues to perform like he has in the last few games, everybody will know his name soon.
The young Brazilian goalkeeper came to Frankfurt from Flamengo in August of 2023 for a fee of €1.5m. Planned as an investment for the future, Santos now plays an important role for Frankfurt in the present: with over 10 saves in their Europa League clash against Besiktas Istanbul, including a penalty save against Ciro Immobile, Santos emerged as Frankfurt's hero on Thursday.
As long as Trapp is injured, Santos will keep getting time to prove to the world that he deserves to be the number one goalkeeper in the near future - and what better way to strenghen this claim than with a good performance against the Rekordmeister Bayern Munich!
It wouldn't be the first time an exciting talent rises to the top in a game where the very best battle it out for an important win. Frankfurt are currently 2nd in the Bundesliga, just behind Bayern. Football is known to write the best stories and maybe on Sunday another one will be written about a 1.96m Brazilian goalkeeper who was at the right place in the right time.
3. Benjamin Šeško (RB Leipzig)
Benjamin Šeško is now in his 2nd season with Leipzig and the transition has been seemless so far: 18 goals in 42 games in the 2023/24 season for Leipzog look very good, but also beatable - Šeško now stands at 6 goals in 8 games. Šeško is now avering 0.75 goals per game in comparison to 0.43 last season.
It's easy to see that Šeško is in great form right about now, having scored 4 goals in his last 2 games for Leipzig. And the club was in desperate need of goals after a difficult start into the season. Leipzig now face off against one of the surprise teams of the season so far, Heidenheim.
In 8 games between them, Leipzig came out on top 4 times, Heidenheim however only once. Another victory for Heidenheim would help them surpass Leipzig in the league table, but an in-form Benjamin Šeško will do his best to prevent that.
4. Patrik Schick (Bayer Leverkusen)
This player pick can be considered a gamble, since Patrik Schick is not a starter for Bayer Leverkusen. However, after Leverkusen's first Champions League game this season, Xabi Alonso gave Schick a chance against Wolfsburg - and the striker thanked him by helping his team to a victory.
After an exhausting 2nd Champions Leage game, in which Schick did not feature, Alonso might be thinking about giving him another shot in the starting eleven. The Bundesliga champions are facing promoted side Kiel who conceded at least 2 goals in every game so far this season: the perfect opportunity to rotate the squad for Leverkusen.
Schick has proven last season that he still knows how to score goals. His 13 goals in 33 games, mostly as a sub, helped Leverkusen stay unbeaten for a long time! After being critisized in German Media for “not scoring enough goals” in the last few games, Leverkusen will be keen to show themselves from their best side - by scoring more than just the one or two goals per game.
Let's see if Patrik Schick can be the player to help them this weekend.
5. Mohamed Amoura (VfL Wolfsburg)
After some injury problems at the start of the season, Mohamed Amoura has recently proven his worth for his new club Wolfsburg. Amoura was directly involved in at least 1 goal in each game he has played this season, collecting a total of 4 goal contributions in 3 games. Against Stuttgart last week Amoura almost secured Wolfsburg a victory with one goal and one assist - but it wasn't to be in the end.
Wolfsburg have been struggling defensively so far this season, their attack however has been pretty good: 2 goals against Bayern, 1 goal against Frankfurt, 3 goals against Leverkusen and 2 goals against Stuttgart do seem very promising for the future, especially if you consider the level of the opponents Wolfsburg had to face so far.
With Amoura leading the attack, Wolfsburg can be sure to keep their goal-scoring streak going against their opponent on matchday 6, VfL Bochum. This game is a must-win game for both sides, but especially for Wolfsburg. After that they face Bremen and St. Pauli, also two games of which Wolfsburg fans are hoping to get some points from.
Let's see if Amoura continues his streak of a goal contribution (or more) per game in the Bundesliga!