The 17-year-old finds himself on the cusp of the first team at the Allianz Arena after a sensational season at youth level
A transformative season at youth level has propelled 17-year-old Lennart Karl into the first-team picture at Bayern Munich and, after a standout summer, the young attacker now stands a real chance of going from the academy to meaningful senior minutes in a matter of months.
It's an opportunity Karl is determined to seize. "I always want to play and prove myself, whether it's with the first team, the Under-19s or the Under-17s," he says in an interview with the Bavarian giants. "I intend to always give my all in order to continue to develop."
Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany has been criticised for failing to utilise the club's academy properly so far in his short tenure, but Karl looks set to be the player to buck that trend. Here's everything you need to know about Die Roten's next wonderkid who is already pushing to break into the starting XI…
Where it all began
He might be Bayern's next big thing, but Karl actually hails from nowhere near Munich, albeit he's still Bavarian, having been born in February 2008 in Frammersbach in mid-west Germany, not far from Frankfurt.
He took the first steps on the long road to becoming a professional footballer at Viktoria Aschaffenburg, a short distance from his hometown, aged seven in 2015. After catching the eye there, a move into the youth system of local Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt two years later was the natural progression on Karl's upward trajectory, honing his skills there on the futsal court.
But Die Adler did not keep hold of him and, after a brief return to Aschaffenburg, he was snapped up by Bayern Munich in 2022, joining up with the academy at FC Bayern Campus.
AdvertisementThe big break
Initially, it didn't seem like Karl would come so far so quickly, as he struggled to juggle football and his education. "To be honest, things didn't go well in my last U16 season," he said in a recent in-house interview. "I had fluctuations in my performances and didn't score many goals. I wanted to change that. In preparation for the U17 season, I did additional training, either on my own or with a coach from the campus. That helped me a lot – mentally and physically."
There was certainly a shift in the next campaign, and Karl is fresh from a season that has propelled him into the first-team picture at the Allianz Arena at the age of 17. It began with him making an outrageous 33 goal contributions in just 14 games for the Under-17s, including a five-goal haul against Unterhaching to get the campaign underway.
Those obscene statistics inevitably saw him bumped up two age grades to the U19s late in 2024 as Bayern looked to fast-track his development. By that point he had already done enough to earn links to European giants Real Madrid and Ajax, and he would make an immediate impression mixing it with the big boys, too, scoring against Augsburg's U19s on his debut.
In March, he netted a hat-trick of near-identical left-footed goals from an Arjen Robben-esque position, and later the same month he went on a sublime slaloming run to score a sensational individual goal.
An outrageous return of 34 goals in 30 appearances across the U17s and U19s was ultimately too good for head coach Kompany to ignore, and Karl was handed his first-team bow as a half-time substitute in the 10-0 rout of Auckland City at the Club World Cup, having failed to make it off the bench for the senior side on five previous occasions.
How it's going
That was the preface to Karl being formally inducted into the senior side ahead of 2025-26, and emerged as the unlikely star of Bayern's pre-season games as he made a genuine claim for a starting berth in the season proper.
Having played another half in the friendly victory over Lyon, the attacker scored just seven minutes after coming off the bench against Tottenham – bending a wonderful, first-time effort past Guglielmo Vicario from the edge of the penalty area to announce himself in front of the Allianz Arena crowd.
The next day, Die Roten confirmed the teenager had signed a new three-year youth contract to put an end to any speculation surrounding him for the time being, with a view to a longer professional deal once he turns 18 in February 2026. The youngster also inherited Jamal Musiala's old No.42 shirt after his fellow academy graduate took the No.10.
Karl celebrated by starring in Bayern's final pre-season friendly against Grasshoppers. He opened the scoring with another stunning strike, taking aim from distance before thumping a left-footed strike perfectly into the inside of the side netting, before showing off his dribbling skills on the right flank and laying the ball off to fellow youngster Jonah Kusi-Are to crash home the winner.
Those pre-season displays led Karl to claim he was ready for more first-team action. "Everything went well in the friendlies," he told the media. "Now I definitely want to get playing time in the bigger games, for example against Stuttgart in the Supercup or in the Bundesliga."
However, he was forced to settle for a place on the bench in the DFL-Supercup victory over Stuttgart, with Kompany introducing him with just one minute left on the clock.
At international level, Karl has starred throughout the age grades for Germany and is currently in the U17s squad. He provided a ridiculous 11 goal contributions in six games in qualifying for the U17 European Championship, although he was unable to make an impact at the tournament proper as his nation bowed out early.
Getty Images SportBiggest strengths
A No.10 who is equally adept playing out wide, Karl is a demon in the half-spaces, drifting inside menacingly from the right flank to get involved in the build-up, go on a mazy dribble or unleash a fierce left-footed strike, with his recent goals in the first team reflecting his shooting ability from long range. Indeed, the teenager has already earned comparisons to Bayern legend Robben due to the regularity with which he cuts in from the right and takes aim. It turns out that is something he's been working on.
"I actually practised that specifically at the start of the season. It's since become automatic," Karl revealed. "I don't even think much about it in the moment. It just feels right. The goals then came naturally."
In terms of his other strengths, Karl sums it up pretty nicely, although he is probably underselling his lightning-quick feet, close control and and vision for a pass: "I'm very quick over the first few metres, like to go one-on-one and have a good finish."
Speaking about Karl recently, Bayern's sporting director Christoph Freund said: "He’s very, very self-confident. That's one of his greatest strengths. He knows what he's capable of. You can see his quality on the pitch, too."
