Jonathan Burkardt

Key strength: Link-up play

Target man

While Eintracht Frankfurt sink in 8th place, mired in a miserable five-match winless run, Jonathan Burkardt stands alone as the solitary beacon of hope at Deutsche Bank Park. The 26-year-old German centre-forward has single-handedly carried his club's attack, netting 12 goals in just 20 appearances—a clinical strike rate of one every 119 minutes that masks his teammates' broader dysfunction. Operating as a refined target man with exceptional link-up play, Burkardt has somehow achieved the improbable amid this chaos: he's become one of the Bundesliga's most composed finishers while maintaining impeccable discipline. Not a single yellow card across 1,424 minutes of relentless pressing speaks to the intelligence of his movement. With his market value climbing to €30 million, the Mainz academy graduate has transformed into one of Germany's most dependable number nines. While Frankfurt's European ambitions crumble around him, Burkardt's soaring valuation tells its own story—talent this pure rarely stays in the shadows for long.