Lennart Karl’s meteoric rise to fame last week has predictably led to scouts from three Premier League giants being sent to monitor the 17-year-old’s exploits. However, despite it being clear that Arsenal are England’s best team at the moment, Mikel Arteta could pose a problem for the Gunners bosses in their bid to sign the teenager.
Making his first-team debut at the Club World Cup, Karl cemented his place in European football by scoring two outstanding goals in four days. The first was in his full Champions League debut against Club Brugge, and after coming off the bench in the Bundesliga win against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
With Arjen Robben watching from the stands, comparisons to the Bayern Munich legend were easily drawn, with the way Karl weaved past defenders before passing the ball into the top corner.
Coach Julian Nagelsmann has already been asked to include him in Germany’s squad for November’s international tournament, with the hope that he can prove as much of an asset to his country as Jamal Musiala’s replacement, as he is expected to be at his club.
Even though he plays for Bayern’s historic club, there are no young players of Karl’s quality anywhere in Europe and he is currently considered off-limits to the Premier League’s Talenthuber, with Bild reporter Christian Falk claiming on Welt TV that Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City had all sent scouts to watch Karl in action on Saturday.
Bild newspaper suggested that the teenager’s agent is former Blues midfielder Michael Ballack, who negotiated a contract renewal with Bayern in August that expires at the end of the 2027/2028 season, which could give Chelsea an advantage in negotiations if they face a contract battle. But that may not be the only reason why Arsenal may struggle to beat Chelsea, or even City, against attacking midfielders.
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They were rightly touted for their use of Arsenal’s academy last season, with Ethan Nwaneri’s better-than-expected performances and Miles Lewis-Skelly’s incredible breakthrough, but Mikel Arteta has largely downplayed the pair this season.
15-year-old Max Daumann’s three brief substitute appearances painted the image of a manager who still believes in youth, even though the reality is closer to the situation for which Arteta was heavily criticized in his early days in charge. The criticism reached its peak in December 2023, when he denied playing time to promising academy players, opting to play a marginal veteran in a Champions League game against PSV Eindhoven.
Arteta and many Arsenal fans will very reasonably point to their top spot in the Premier League and 100 per cent record in the Champions League as solid evidence of Arteta’s sound decision-making when it comes to team selection. And while few would have expected Lewis-Skelly to be given the watch requirement this season, Riccardo Calafioli has been outstanding in his place.
The signing of new contracts by Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri and Dauman suggests they believe they will be given ample opportunity under Arteta at the Emirates. But while such doubts will surely be negligible if Arsenal win the Premier League, Champions League or both this season, Karl and Ballack are likely to see Arteta’s return to a late 2023 mindset as cause for concern, especially if Chelsea, a world-famous spot with ample opportunity for young talent, has been floated as a potential replacement.
