How Can Uzun in Frankfurt ripened as a difference

Lothar Matthäus hardly came out of the raving on Saturday evening. “Can Uzun is much further than me at the age of 19,” praised the former world footballer and “Sky” expert the shooting star, who once again made the difference in the 6: 4 away win of the Frankfurt victory in Gladbach. “That was absolute world class,” said Matthäus. Uzun always makes the right decisions, have the whole game under control and is being sought by teammates.

So also in the 35th minute, when he accepted a long pass, claimed the ball against two defenders and removed Jonathan Burkardt. He achieved the meantime 3-0 from a Frankfurt perspective. Later, Uzun met himself: After a remarkable double pass with Chaibi, the Turkish-German exceptional player chased the ball into the right upper corner-a dream goal for 5: 0 shortly before half. Uzun has scored a goal on the first five Bundesliga match days. No Frankfurt has succeeded before him.

In the second round, the young star was replaced in the 57th minute for veteran Mario Götze, but received the “kicker” grade 1.0 and was named player of the match day. Coach Dino Toppmöller probably took him out of the game at 6-0 for Frankfurt to protect his strength, because Eintracht meets at Atlético Madrid on Tuesday.

After Uzun’s replacement in Gladbach, the Hesse broke and let the foals come back. It became clear how important the 19-year-old is for his club. Uzun is currently the difference in the Frankfurt squad. He has been enchanting the Bundesliga for weeks. But how did his rapid climb came up?

At the beginning of his time in Frankfurt, Can Uzun initially landed on the ground of the facts. In the summer of 2024 he came from the second division club 1. FC Nürnberg for eleven million euros, where he was the undisputed regular player. At Eintracht, however, Uzun mostly took a seat on the bench last season – the competition on the offensive was (still) too great. In the end, he came across five goals and three templates in 31 competitive game operations across competition, and he played nine times from the start.

After the season there was a conversation between Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche and Uzuns closest environment. “It was important to convey that he and his environment can also be satisfied with the season,” said Krösche to the “kicker”. “He should play with joy and don’t put himself so much pressure.” At that time, the association was 100 percent satisfied with its first season, everything went according to plan.

Subsequently, Uzun went into patience, worked intensively on himself and his body in preparation for the current season. That pays off now. The joy of the game demanded by Krösche can now be seen from him: Uzun moves across the square with a remarkable lightness – with or without a ball on the foot. “Can take responsibility. He attracts many balls, has become a fixed point in our game and also a factor in the game against the ball,” Krösche praised the shooting star after the away win in Gladbach.

Trainer Dino Toppmöller is also happy about Uzun’s development. “At the moment you can see what he can do if a player with the quality he simply has brings confidence on his own and the confidence from the coaching team feels, “said the Eintracht coach. However, Toppmöller also warned of a hasty hype about the player: “Nevertheless, we are only on matchday fifth. It was a rocket start from him. In the end, it is about getting it onto the pitch for a season.”

In the course of the season, difficult games are scored on Uzun than that in Gladbach, possibly also one or the other low. But so far his learning and shape curve has continued: Uzun has already exceeded his goal yield of the previous season on matchday fifth.

In the Bundesliga, he is currently the second best scorer with five goals and three assists – only on Bavaria Munich star striker Harry Kane (ten goals and four assists) is not over. A direct show of the top scorer will be at the Bundesliga cracker on the next match day: Eintracht Frankfurt welcomes FC Bayern on Saturday at 6.30 p.m.

The Munich people will also follow Can Uzun’s development. If he became leaders at Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern and other top European clubs could stretch their feelers to him in the future.