Wirtz, Musiala and the 10 Germany players to explode in the last six months

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 9 Mar 2022 06:51 CST
• 4 min read

Florian Wirtz is the most improved German player - ahead of Jamal Musiala - over the last six months, according to SciSports.

Using in-game data to calculate the performance of every player eligible to play for Germany, the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder has enjoyed the greatest improvement, statistically.

Still just 18, Wirtz made his top-flight debut in May 2020 and opened his Bundesliga account against Bayern Munich legend Manuel Neuer one month later, but he has continued to go from strength to strength.

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The attacking midfielder has contributed 10 goals and 13 assists, as Leverkusen have raced to third in the Bundesliga and the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

Musiala may have started fewer games for league leaders Bayern, but the midfielder - who was also eligible for England - has, like Wirtz, already made his full international debut for Germany.

Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann has recently put the Stuttgart-born 19-year-old ahead of Marcel Sabitzer in Bayern’s midfield pecking order, and six goals and five assists this season have seen that faith justified.

With recent Germany call-ups like David Raum (Hoffenheim) and Nico Schlotterbeck (Freiburg) also on the list, Matheo Raab is perhaps a surprising entry in third place in SciSports’ calculation.

The Kaiserslautern goalkeeper was Avdo Spahic’s understudy at the start of the season in Germany’s third tier, but injury at the start of the campaign gave Raab his chance, and he has seized it - quite literally - with both hands, keeping 14 clean sheets.

With Schlotterbeck in fourth, Greuther Furth forward Jamie Leweling rounds out the top five. The Germany under-21 attacker fended off a winter loan deal from Rangers’ Cedric Itten for the right to partner club captain Branimir Hrgota up front.

Fellow Germany youth international Kevin Schade makes the list, alongside his Freiburg teammate Schlotterbeck. The Black Forest club are the best-represented club on our list, with right-back Lukas Kubler also making the cut.

Reda Khadra is the only player not currently plying his trade in Germany. The former Borussia Dortmund youngster is on loan at Blackburn Rovers from Brighton, and has contributed five goals and four assists in all competitions for the Championship club.

Dortmund youngster Justin Njinmah also makes the cut.

How is the SciSkill ranking calculated?

Over the course of a season, there are players who will enjoy increasingly poor performances and increasingly positive performances.

FootballTransfers, in partnership with SciSports, has determined 10 English players over the last six months whose performances have improved to a higher degree than anyone else.

SciSports explains how our development ratings are gathered:

“Among others, a positive development could be boosted by more playing time, playing time on a higher level or better performances on the pitch.

“A negative development could be due to the player being active on a lower level than he used to play, bad performances or the fact that he does not play that often as he used to do.

“A SciSkill Development of 0.0 could indicate that a player is performing exactly like our algorithm expects him to do. Another reason could be inactivity (e.g. a long-term injury or suspension).”

It should be noted that vast improvement does not necessarily mean that a player was underperforming previously.