5 Bundesliga players Premier League clubs will be watching this season

The Bundesliga will commence on Friday, 28 August 2026, and for English clubs it has increasingly become less a rival league than a shopping list. Premier League sides treat it as a place to find and buy players, rather than a competition they are trying to beat.

The pattern goes back years. Liverpool signed Ibrahima Konaté from RB Leipzig in 2021, and Manchester City paid the same club around £77m for Joško Gvardiol in 2023.

It continued this summer. Newcastle bought Bazoumana Touré from Hoffenheim, described by the Premier League as having contributed 14 goals and assists in 30 Bundesliga appearances last season, while Arsenal made Piero Hincapié's move from Bayer Leverkusen permanent after a season on loan.

Many German clubs have built their model around this. They buy young, develop quickly, and sell for significant profit.

This summer showed how large that profit can be. Leipzig paid €20m for Yan Diomandé from Spanish second-division side Leganés in 2025, then sold him to Real Madrid a year later for a fee reported at more than €100m.

Here are five players still in Germany who English clubs have already been watching, with what is known about each of them.

Their performances last season are the starting point. What they do in the Bundesliga this year will decide whether those Premier League links turn into actual bids.

Felix Nmecha, Borussia Dortmund

Felix Nmecha is a 25-year-old central midfielder, born in Hamburg and raised partly in England. He came through Manchester City's academy before moving to Wolfsburg, then joined Dortmund in 2023 for around €30m.

He would be the most expensive of these five, and the hardest to sign.

Last season was the best of his career. He made 42 appearances in all competitions, scoring five goals and providing three assists.

The underlying numbers are better than the goals suggest. Among Dortmund's midfielders, he completed the most passes with 1,390 and won the most duels with 162.

He then went to the World Cup and scored Germany's opening goal in the 7-1 win over Curaçao, before supplying the assist for the winner against Ivory Coast.

Newcastle have identified him as a preferred option. According to Sky Germany, they have contacted his representatives about replacing Bruno Guimarães, who left St James' Park for Arsenal in a £75m deal earlier this month.

ESPN reported in June that Liverpool and Manchester United were also interested.

The problem is the price. Dortmund are currently valuing him at around €120m, and sporting director Ole Book has said he does not expect Nmecha to leave this summer.

Reports say his contract contains an €80m release clause, which would let a club sign him without Dortmund's agreement. That clause is only reported to become active next summer, so nobody can use it now.

Castello Lukeba, RB Leipzig

Castello Lukeba is a 23-year-old centre-back from France. He is left-footed, and joined Leipzig from Lyon in 2023 for €30m on a contract that runs until 2029.

Of these five, he is the one most likely to move, because Leipzig have already lowered their asking price.

He made 26 Bundesliga appearances last season and played more than 2,100 minutes, according to FotMob. He is a ball-playing defender, meaning he is trusted to start attacks from the back rather than simply clear his lines.

His release clause is set at €80m. According to Kicker, no club has been willing to pay that much, so Leipzig would now listen to offers of around €60m.

Manchester United and Arsenal have both been linked with him. Sky Germany reported in the spring that Lukeba himself wanted a new challenge.

Leipzig's record with defenders is worth noting. They sold Dayot Upamecano to Bayern in 2021, then Konaté and Gvardiol both left for the Premier League. This is a club that sells centre-backs to elite teams and does it well.

Bilal El Khannouss, VfB Stuttgart

Bilal El Khannouss is a 22-year-old attacking midfielder who holds both Moroccan and Belgian nationality. He joined Leicester from Genk in 2024, was relegated with them from the Premier League, then moved to Stuttgart on loan before the deal was made permanent on 1 July 2026. His contract runs to 2030.

He is the only one of these five who has already played in England.

His numbers look different depending on the competition. In the Bundesliga he scored four goals and set up five more in 25 appearances, according to Opta.

Across all competitions the picture is stronger. FOX Sports records nine goals and seven assists in 41 games, and Bundesliga.com explains the difference, noting he scored five times during Stuttgart's Europa League run.

He also played for Morocco at the World Cup, starting their opening four matches before they went out to France in the quarter-finals.

Newcastle, Leeds, Tottenham and Crystal Palace have all been linked with him at various points.

More recently, Sky Germany's Florian Plettenberg reported that two Premier League clubs had made initial enquiries, and that El Khannouss would consider a move.

Stuttgart would rather keep him. Plettenberg says they want up to €60m plus bonuses before they will even discuss it.

Saïd El Mala, 1. FC Köln

Saïd El Mala is a 19-year-old left winger, born in Krefeld to a family of Lebanese descent. He signed for Köln from city rivals Viktoria Köln in 2024, spent a season back there on loan, and only broke into the Bundesliga last year.

His route was not a straightforward one. According to Flashscore, Borussia Mönchengladbach released him at 14 and he wanted to give up football altogether, until his brother Malek persuaded him to keep playing.

His first full Bundesliga season was a strong one. He made 34 appearances and scored 13 goals, and Julian Nagelsmann called him into the Germany squad.

The story of his summer is the most unusual of the five, because the biggest obstacle was not the money.

Brighton bid €14m in 2025 and raised it verbally to €20m. Köln said no.

Brentford went much further. According to OneFootball, citing Bild and Sky Germany, they put together a package worth around €50m that Köln were prepared to accept.

Then El Mala turned it down himself. He felt the move was not the right step, and his mother, who acts as his principal adviser, did not approve it before Brentford's deadline passed.

Köln sporting director Thomas Kessler confirmed it to Sport BILD, saying the money was close to what they would have accepted but the player decided against the move.

Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham have all been credited with interest at various stages.

Dortmund then spent much of the summer trying and failing to reach an agreement. Their offers were rejected repeatedly, partly over how the bonuses were structured, and last week managing director Lars Ricken ended it publicly, saying El Mala is not a Dortmund player and will not become one this summer.

So the most sought-after teenager in Germany looks likely to stay at Köln, where his contract runs to 2030 with no release clause in it.

Jobe Bellingham, Borussia Dortmund

Manchester United watched this one closely once before, and lost him.

Jobe Bellingham is a 20-year-old midfielder from Stourbridge, and the younger brother of Real Madrid's Jude. He came through Birmingham City's academy, joined Sunderland in 2023, and helped them win promotion to the Premier League in 2025.

United tracked him throughout that Sunderland spell. Dortmund moved faster, and according to the BBC they paid an initial €32m plus €5m in add-ons.

That was the biggest fee a newly promoted Premier League club had ever received.

His first year in Germany began badly and ended well. He could not hold down a place before Christmas, then started 18 of Dortmund's last 20 matches.

His attacking numbers look poor at first glance. He scored no Bundesliga goals and made one assist in 32 league games, with two further assists in ten Champions League matches.

He should be judged on the other side of the ball. He made 47 interceptions, more than any other Dortmund midfielder including Nmecha, and he is used to win the ball back and carry it forward rather than to create chances.

Manchester United have previously monitored him, and Dortmund are reported to value him at more than €50m.

Bellingham himself has said he is committed to staying, which is worth remembering when the rumours restart in January. He is 20, captains England's Under-21 side, and has little reason to force a move.

Why January matters more than August

The German window closes at 7pm UK time on Monday 31 August. The Premier League window stays open until 11pm the following day, Tuesday 1 September.

That extra day can help English clubs in negotiations, because Bundesliga sides will already have passed their own registration deadline for domestic signings.

Not all five are equally hard to reach, though. Nmecha and Bellingham look the most difficult, with Dortmund refusing to discuss either of them.

Lukeba and El Khannouss are more realistic, and both depend on whether a Premier League club will meet their clubs' respective asking prices. Those are currently reported at around €60m for Lukeba and up to €60m plus bonuses for El Khannouss.

El Mala is the strangest case. Köln accepted English money once already and the player refused it, so the obstacle there is not the fee.

January is the more realistic window for most of them, and next summer more realistic still. A strong season from any of the five will only push the asking price higher.