Every Bundesliga Team's Most Valuable Player
As the German Bundesliga continues its steep climb to the summit of European football, we felt it best to take a moment to categorize each team and its most valuable player.
As we saw at Wembley in May, during the final of the UEFA Champions League, the Bundesliga currently plays host to two of the world's most exciting teams in Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.
Yet when we push past that to the low undergrowth that makes up the best of the rest, it becomes rather apparent that Germany's top division is a rich ecosystem for great football clubs and world-class players to truly thrive.
Here are the best players from each of those sides.
1. FSV Mainz 05
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Nicolai Muller
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£4 million
Although this season may not appear to be as comfortable as previous attempts for Mainz and coach Thomas Tuchel, Nicolai Muller has shown no sign of slowing down in his ability as a quality Bundesliga player.
This season he already has six goals in 10 games, despite only playing in a striking role on three occasions. In a dark time for the club, this player continues to shine brightly and offer a continuous avenue for success for this troubled club.
1. FC Nuremberg
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Hiroshi Kiyotake
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£8.8 million
As perhaps one of the easiest names to rhyme off on this list, Kiyotake is undoubtedly the best player at the old club.
Like so many players in the Bundesliga, Kiyotake continues to thrive, despite the fact that his team are still struggling to overcome the inevitability of a relegation battle.
The Japanese international may only have two goals and an assist in nine games so far this season, but ask any Nurnberg fan and they'll happily tell you how vital they have been in such a tight start to their campaign.
Bayer Leverkusen
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Lars Bender
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£17.5 million
When it comes to Bayer Leverkusen, the key word for determining a player's general quality is "consistency."
The Factory Squad have enjoyed the company of numerous quality footballers over the years and still do with the likes of Sydney Sam, Heung-Min Son and Stefan Kiessling all in the squad.
Yet the one player who regularly performs more than any other for Germany's third best side is, of course, Lars Bender.
Bayer may have conceded fewer goals than Dortmund last season and possess a striker who outscored all at Bayern, but it was Lars Bender in midfield who truly drove his side on and continues to do so as Sami Hyypia's team continue their quest for silverware.
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Borussia Dortmund
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Ilkay Gundogan
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£24 million
Although Ilkay Gundogan only managed one game for Dortmund this season before injury struck, it is impossible to imagine this current side without the tricky central midfielder at the heart of it.
Yes, Robert Lewandowski scores the goals, Marco Reus sets them up and Mats Hummels stops them from going in the wrong net, but it is this young German prodigy who ensures that they all work to their absolute potential.
It was Gundogan who pursued last season's Champions League with such tenacity as he embodied his side's stark defiance to Real Madrid and the rest of Europe's old guard.
This man is Jurgen Klopp's midfield general and most important player.
Borussia Monchengladbach
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Marc-Andre Ter Stegen
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£9.7 million
With recent rumours linking him to Barcelona reaching unprecedented levels, it would seem odd not to take note of just how fantastic Gladbach's young goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen truly is.
Dante may have left last year and Marco Reus the January before that, yet the Foals still have one genuinely talented player in their ranks when it comes to Ter Stegen.
His ability as a goalkeeper are undoubted, yet it's the cool personality and strong leadership qualities that set this young man out from the rest.
He may not stick around in Germany for long, but for now Gladbach have an excellent shot-stopper between the posts.
Eintracht Braunschweig
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Ermin Bicakcic
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£1.9 million
For the minnows of this season's Bundesliga campaign, a stand-out star was never really going to be so likely.
Yet young Ermin Bicakcic is certainly something for such a bleak club to look forward to.
The few results (one win and one draw in 10 games) that Braunschweig have managed to obtain thus far have come about from an honest mix of fortune and bravery, and this 23-year-old central defender has both in abundance.
Eintracht Frankfurt
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Kevin Trapp
Transfermarket.co.uk—£5.3 million
Eintracht Frankfurt are a peculiar side. After gaining promotion last season, they made their mark in the Bundesliga and ultimately managed a top-half finish with points to spare.
This was due in part to the excellent work of head coach Armin Veh, but it was also down to the fantastic squad that they had amassed on their journey up the divisions.
As such, picking one star from this side has proved difficult, but few would argue that few players have remained as consistent throughout the past 18 months of top-flight football as young goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.
Germany is renowned for its abundance of youthful talents in this position, and Trapp truly defines this reputation with a modest excellence to his game that few outside of the league would even recognise. He's their secret weapon and they're more than happy to keep it that way.
FC Augsburg
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Andre Hahn
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£1.1 million
The 23-year-old winger has been an ever-present member of Augsburg's surprise start to the season and has quickly begun repaying the faith shown in him by coach Markus Weinzierl.
Preferably a left-winger by trade, yet Hahn has spent much of this season on the right-hand side for the small club and produced fantastic results with two goals and three assists in 10 games thus far.
Although the club rest only one spot above the relegation spot, Augsburg have picked up three wins in their first 10 games and can stick it to most sides in the league, thanks to the attacking players such as Hahn at their disposal.
Bayern Munich
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Franck Ribery
Transfermarket.co.uk—£37.5 million
With arguably the most abundant congregation of world-class talent in domestic football at the moment, one could say that picking just one player from Bayern Munich's squad as the "most valuable" is simply impossible.
Yet to distinguish truly who is vital to this squad over the course of a league season, we have to consider hypothetically which player Bayern Munich simply couldn't do without.
Such an exercise immediately rules out new boys Thiago Alcantara and Mario Gotze, while the depth of the squad can also rule out the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger (who has an understudy in Toni Kroos) as well as Thomas Muller, Dante and Mario Mandzukic.
What we have left is a duo of Philipp Lahm and Frank Ribery, and within the context of this exercise we decided to award the title of "most valuable player" to the Frenchman simply due to his recent European Player of the Year award.
When it comes to Bayern Munich as an attacking threat, Ribery is quite simply the engine of this formidable machine.
We've seen Schweinsteiger go missing in games, Mandzukic fail to take his chances and Arjen Robben's petulance get the better of him. Yet it's Ribery who consistently comes through and wins the tough games for the German and European champions.
FC Schalke 04
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Julian Draxler
Transfermarket.co.uk—£26.5 million
Although Schalke currently find themselves in the midst of a mess that seems to creep up on them on an annual basis, it's hard to argue with the simple fact that they still have a very strong squad.
From the likes of Klaas Jan Huntelaar up front, Kevin Prince Boateng just behind him or even the perpetually EPL-linked Kyriakos Papadopoulos in central defence, Schalke can match most sides man for man in not only Germany but Europe's Champions League, too.
Yet the one man who truly stands out for this side is the young, dogmatic attacking midfielder Julian Draxler, Schalke's own wonderkid who has Europe wrestling for his signature.
Following a summer of transfer rumours, he hasn't been at his best this season with only one assist in his first nine games for Schalke, which could, of course, explain his club's overall form as well.
Yet it's only a matter of time before we see one of Germany's brightest talents shining brightly once again.
Hamburger SV
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Rafael Van der Vaart
Transfermarket.co.uk—£11.5 million
To understand the significance of Rafael Van der Vaart, we must first accept one of the most obvious facts in German football: Hamburg SV are a one-man team and that one man is a particular Dutch international.
This season alone he has scored six goals in just 10 games, making his goal tally almost one third of all the goals the northern club have scored all season.
Not bad for a player who primarily plays in central midfield.
Add to that tally another four assists and you have a player who's quite confidently pushing his side to at least one goal a game.
Hannover 96
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Ron-Robert Zieler
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£7.5 million
As the third goalkeeper on our list, it comes as no surprise that Ron-Robert Zieler makes some form of appearance in a feature on some of the Bundesliga's best players.
The 24-year-old has had an odd season so far, with Hannover proving rather inconsistent at home and on their travels, yet his ability is unquestionable. If you watch carefully, you can still see the player who catches shots and headers out of the air with breathtaking ease.
At 24, this man is already a wonderful goalkeeper and very much in front of the rest to challenge Manuel Neuer's title as Germany's best.
Hertha BSC
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Adrian Ramos
Transfermarket.co.uk—£3.5 million
If Eintracht Frankfurt were the Bundesliga surprise package last season, then Hertha Berlin are more certainly this year's dark horses.
The capital side currently sit in fifth position in the Bundesliga following four wins and three draws in the recently promoted side's first 10 games.
One of the key reasons behind this is, of course, the emphatic form of striker Adrian Ramos, who has managed to curate five goals and two assists in the opening 10 games of the season, dragging his side up the table by a simple method of outscoring the opposition.
Of course, the 27-year-old Colombian is no stranger to the German top division, having led the Berlin line two years ago before they got relegated, yet the striker is now only one goal off his tally from that season with plenty more in sight before May.
SC Freiburg
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Matthias Ginter
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£6.2 million
Although Freiburg have called upon players such as Oliver Sorg, Jonathan Schmid and Sebastian Freis this season as they desperately try to plug the holes in a sinking ship that was torn apart for scraps over the summer transfer window, the most fascinating player to watch this season has been young central defender Matthias Ginter.
With more than 44 appearances for Freiburg's squad at just 19 years of age, Ginter looks like an incredibly promising defender for not just the Black Forest side but the German national team, too.
A much-needed source of reliance in a troubling time for Christian Streich's side.
SV Werder Bremen
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Aaron Hunt
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£5.7 million
Werder Bremen have had a disappointing season so far, sitting just three places above the relegation zone. Robin Dutt's side has struggled to find the back of the net this season, with just nine goals in 10 games played so far.
However, forward Aaron Hunt is still integral to what success his team does have going forward, and were Die Werderaner to lose him it would truly be a wonder just how sparse Bremen's goal return would actually be.
Although the goals are primarily expected from striker Nils Petersen and the more technically gifted players such as Eljero Elia are likely to be the main source of assists, Hunt is the key driving force to this side and if Bremen do have any intentions of achieving anything this season it'll be through this man.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
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Roberto Firmino
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£9.7 million
Hoffenheim are a side that tend to attract all the wrong kind of connotations to themselves within German football.
Yet, under Markus Gisdol, the side have reinvented themselves from a forever troubled side last season to something of a dangerous, attacking team.
And it has shown results. This season the village club currently sit in ninth position with three wins and four draws from their first 10 games.
At the heart of this new attacking side is 22-year-old Brazilian attacking midfielder Roberto Firmino who has contributed a staggering seven goals and four assists in just nine games, giving him a goal tally equal only to Sydney Sam and Mario Mandzukic at the top of the goalscoring charts.
VfB Stuttgart
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Vedad Ibisevic
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£8.8 million
Like many players on this list, Vedad Ibisevic makes it remarkably easy to pick him out from within his squad due the simple fact that he has completely outshone anyone else in his team.
For Stuttgart this season, the Bosnian international has scored seven goals and a solitary assist in just 10 games, as he continues his long-standing agreement with Stuttgart as their solitary source for goals.
Like Firmino, Ibisevic also sits joint first in the goalscoring charts as his side sit rather comfortably in eighth place.
Vfl Wolfsburg
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Luiz Gustavo
Transfermarket.co.uk Value—£16 million
At a circus club like Wolfsburg, it's often hard to make out any particular individual performances amongst the inconsistent form of the team.
Yet Luiz Gustavo, despite the two red cards in his first three games for the club, has been outstanding for the Wolves since his summer move from Bayern Munich.
Yes, Ivica Olic and Diego have both been at their best in this campaign, but it's Gustavo who has come in to that volatile midfield and really solidified things, allowing Dieter Hecking's side to put together some form and move up the table.
Their current spot is sixth in the table, a far cry from last season's mayhem, and that is most definitely down to the introduction of the Brazilian defensive midfielder.
Olic can be replaced and playmakers such as Diego are a dime-a-dozen in this league, yet a strong defensive player such as Gustavo is truly invaluable to most sides.
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