Brighton loanee Deniz Undav on fire - Part of 2nd most dangerous Bundesliga attack

Forward Deniz Undav announced early last week that he would be especially motivated against his former academy club, Werder Bremen. And the 27-year-old scored the opening goal in VfB Stuttgart’s 2-0 Bundesliga win. “I am happy about every goal,” Undav, who played for Bremen’s academy between 2007 and 2012, said after the game in the mixed zone. “But Werder is the club that ejected me from the academy, and to stand here now after having scored against them—of course, that is more satisfying than usual.”   

“You should never be angry with your former club,” Undav then added in an interview with Sky. “It was just a decision by the U15 coach.” After leaving Werder, Undav joined Meppen and, from there, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, becoming a goalscoring sensation in Belgium before finally joining Premier League side Brighton, from where he is on loan at Stuttgart. A loan that has worked out well for the Swabians. The goal against Werder was Undav’s eighth goal in just his tenth Bundesliga game. Once you add the goal in the DFB Pokal, Undav is the best German goalscorer in any of Europe’s top ten leagues ahead of Dennis Eckert Ayensa (8 goals Union SG) and Tim Kleindienst (7 goals, Heidenheim).

Not surprisingly, Undav has now played his way into the notebooks of German national team coach Julian Nagelsmann. After all, Undav has scored every 68 minutes for high-flying Stuttgart this season, and Nagelsmann plans to call him up for the friendlies in March, should his goalscoring prowess continue. “That is my goal,” Undav said when asked about playing for Germany at Euro 2024. “Let’s see what will happen.” Undav is currently one of the most valuable non-national team players eligible to play for Nagelsmann's team. But Germany will have to be quick; Undav is also eligible to play for Turkey. 

Brighton loanee Undav on fire – Stuttgart have option to purchase 

Nagelsmann isn’t the only one watching, however. Brighton, too will have observed Undav’s progress in the Bundesliga with some interest. Undav joined Brighton ahead of the 2022/23 season but received just 617 minutes of playing time across 22 games. Still enough to score five goals. Stuttgart loaned the forward for just €700,000 in the summer and have an option to make the deal permanent for just €12m—Brighton paid an initial €7m in January 2022 to Union SG. 

Although Brighton are set to receive a small profit, Stuttgart are set to benefit as well. Undav has already increased his market value to €10m, and that market value is likely to grow further on December 14 when Transfermarkt publishes the latest Bundesliga update. At VfB Stuttgart, Undav is the fifth most valuable player. Only Chris Führich, Hiroki Ito, Enzo Millot, and goalscoring sensation Serhou Guirassy have a higher market value than Undav at the Swabians. Guirassy, in fact, captured all the headlines at the start of the season when Undav missed games with an injury. Undav then jumped in when Guirassy went down with an injury a few weeks back, and then against Werder, both were unleashed together, and the result was devastating. The 2-0 defeat flattered Werder as the xG was 3.98 to 0.68 in Stuttgart’s favor. 

“It was my duty to find a starting XI that included both strikers,” Stuttgart head coach Sebastian Hoeneß said ahead of the game against Werder. Indeed, a glance at the most successful attacking duos in the Bundesliga reveals that only Harry Kane and Leroy Sané (26 goals) have been more dangerous than Guirassy and Undav (24 goals). With two star strikers in the squad, Stuttgart have now firmly established themselves in the Bundesliga top four. But will it last? After all, Guirassy has been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League, where Man Utd are interested. But even if Guirassy follows the temptation of Premier League money, at least in Undav, Stuttgart have already a replacement in place, one that they can secure for the long-term for just €12m from Brighton next summer.