5 Germany U21s to watch

*Stats correct as of 20 November 2024

Jonas Urbig
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Cologne
Date of birth: 8 August 2003
U21 appearances/goals*: 8/0

Urbig shared the goalkeeping duties with Noah Atubolu, the Freiburg number one, as the pair each played five of the 10 qualifying games and they look set to duel to be first-choice for the senior national team for the next decade.

Atubolu would seem to have the initiative given he is in the top flight while Urbig's connection to Cologne has limited him to Bundesliga 2 experience at club level. However, after a solid 2023/24 campaign on loan at fellow second-tier outfit Greuther Fürth, Urbig has returned to the club he joined aged 10 and established himself as Gerhard Struber's number one.

The Billy Goats' early season troubles, which saw them concede 22 goals in the first 11 competitive games, meant he was replaced by the more experienced Marvin Schwäbe just before the November international break, but Urbig's future is bright.

"He should see it as an opportunity," said Struber of the "not easy" decision to bench the youngster, adding it was not just about Urbig's goalkeeping "but also things such as leadership. There are simply moments in every career when you have things to learn. Jonas is a fantastic goalkeeper and very thoughtful."

Merlin Röhl
Position: Midfielder
Club: Freiburg
Date of birth: 5 July 2002
U21 appearances/goals*: 9/2

With a first name like that, is it any wonder he's got a wand of a right foot? Like many of his teammates, he's not an entirely unknown quantity: he has over 40 first-team appearances and has already played in the UEFA Europa League, but get ready for more King Arthur, Camelot and wizard puns because Röhl is, well, magical.

"Merlin has developed to the level that we had all hoped for. He has been able to bring his athletic qualities and game intelligence to a number of positions, and is an important part of our team set-up," said Freiburg's sporting director Jochen Saier after Röhl inked a contract extension in September 2024, just two years after he had joined the club from Ingolstadt.

Able to play across midfield, Röhl gets forward when his coach and the opportunity calls for it, and he netted twice as the U21s romped to qualification for UEFA U21 EURO 2005, He also showed his goal threat with a superb maiden Bundesliga strike in his team's loss at RB Leipzig on Matchday 11 of the 2023/24 season.

Watch: Merlin Röhl was also on target against Gladbach in 2023/24

He came off the bench for the first three Bundesliga games of the new campaign before suffering an ankle ligament injury that will sideline him for several months. "Merlin's injury hurts us a lot," said Freiburg coach Julian Schuster, giving a sense of how keenly the versatile midfielder's absence will be felt.

Nicolò Tresoldi
Position: Forward
Club: Hannover
Date of birth: 20 August 2004
U21 appearances/goals*: 9/5

Only Moukoko (6) and Adeyemi (5), who have both been capped by Germany's senior team, scored more UEFA U21 EURO 2025 qualifying goals than Tresoldi (4).

As you might have guessed, Tresoldi could have played for Italy where his father, Emanuele, played professionally. He was, in fact, born there, in the Sardinian city of Cagliari, and in fact he did… as part of their U12 national tennis team. He could also have played for Argentina, the country of his mother's birth. But Germany might have won themselves a centre-forward for the future after he came to the country aged 13, following his mum who got a job in Lower Saxony.

"My school had an agreement with Hanover, so their coaches came to see us and we did some training," explained Tresoldi, who had had unsuccessful trials with AC Milan, Juventus, Bologna, Atalanta and Fiorentina. "After a short time they offered me a trial with the club, and they registered me."

The goals flowed, and Hannover - when their scoring prodigy celebrated his 18th birthday - were quick to offer him a three-year professional contract, an offer he described as "something special". After making his Bundesliga 2 debut in 2022/23, he then scored seven times in 30 second-tier appearances the following campaign, and hit the ground running with two goals and two assists in the opening 12 matches of 2024/25.

His form at U21 level is even more impressive, and could mean that he eventually does turn out in Azzurri blue at senior level if he keeps it up.

"At this moment, I felt like making this choice. I'm very attached to Italy and every time I come back it's beautiful. I lived there for 12 years," explained Tresoldi shortly after making his Germany U19 debut in 2022. "But in these 5 years, I felt at home here. They valued me as a footballer and that matters."

Aljoscha Kemlein
Position: Midfielder
Club: Union Berlin
Date of birth: 2 August 2004
U21 appearances/goals*: 2/0

"Perhaps I'm going to have to pay a lot of money," worried Kemlein after scoring his maiden first-team goal in the Matchday 7 win at Kiel. It seems every Union player that opens their account has to contribute a certain sum to the team's collective fund. Should Union ever sell their homegrown midfield gem, someone is likely going to have to contribute significantly to the Berlin club's coffers too.

Kemlein did not start the 2024/25 Bundesliga season as a first-choice first-teamer at Union, a club he joined in 2016 and where his elder brother, Nikolai, was already playing. But he certainly was on the first-team radar after making two brief top-flight appearances in August 2023 and had done his cause no harm by stepping in to fill the large gap left by the injured Jackson Irvine as he helped steer St. Pauli back to the Bundesliga while on loan last season.

"There is a clear wish from the board to integrate him into the first team," Union president Dirk Zingler had said in the summer, despite Kemlein having Rani Khedira and Andras Schäfer barring the way to the teamsheet. But after replacing the latter for the 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 6, Kemlein has kept his place, earning a first U21 call-up for the November friendlies against Denmark and France.

Watch: Aljoscha Kemlein was nominated for the October 2024 Rookie of the Month award

"I like to make runs deep and into the box, but I also like to have the ball at my feet. Preferably, as often as possible," is how Kemlein described his playing style, one that coach Bo Svensson likes.

"He had trained very well for weeks, and was on it. He did very well. It wasn't a gift," said the Union boss after picking the youngster ahead of the likes of the vastly more experienced László Bénes, Lucas Tousart, Janik Haberer and Schafer as Khedira's midfield partner for the Dortmund game. "He earned it in training, he did all the work needed to be on the pitch."

Frans Krätzig
Position: Left-back
Club: VfB Stuttgart (on loan from Bayern Munich)
Date of birth: 14 January 2003
U21 appearances/goals*: 3/0

Promising Bayern youth academy product, a full-back, goes on loan to Stuttgart in search of time on the pitch? If you've heard of Philipp Lahm, you'll know what we mean. And now it's Krätzig's turn.

Like Germany's 2014 FIFA World Cup-winning captain, Krätzig is Bavarian born - in Nuremberg - and joined Bayern early. He was only 14 when he became one of the very first young talents to work at the new FC Bayern Campus. Like Lahm, he has since moved through the ranks, but - also like his illustrious predecessor - he has found first-team opportunities hard to come by with the likes of Alphonso Davies significant hurdles to clear before winning coach Vincent Kompany's favours.

A stunning goal against Liverpool on Bayern's pre-season tour of Asia caught the eye and he soon went on to make his Bundesliga debut, but he played fewer than 200 minutes across seven competitive first-team games last season. That prompted him to join Austria Vienna on loan for the second half of the campaign, and then opt for last season's Bundesliga runners-up for the current season under Sebastian Hoeneß, whom Krätzig crossed paths with at the Bayern Campus.

"VfB are offering me a chance to develop further, to learn from my teammates in good conditions and get some playing time," said Krätzig, who made his U21 debut in September 2024 having made Stuttgart first-team debut just a couple of weeks earlier. "That's why I'm here and that's what I'm looking forward to."

Krätzig has since dropped out of Hoeneß' squad having struggled to displace Maximilian Mittelstädt, and has been playing for Stuttgart's reserve side instead. But Krätzig is happy to learn from the senior Germany international as he waits for his chance.

"We get on well. It's important to have a relationship where I can look up to him and learn a lot - but he also knows he can always rely on me," explained Krätzig, who signed a contract extension with Bayern through to 2027 in early October 2023. "We still have a lot of games left, so I hope I'll get my chances to play."