“Far from a superstar”
Uli Hoeness has a message for Lennart Karl. Bayern Munich’s honorary president told Welt am Sonntag, as relayed by Sky Sport, that he plans a serious conversation with the teenager. Karl is far from being a superstar, Hoeness said, and young players need humility. They also need pressure, he added, and he is not sure it is good for Karl to be protected all the time.
He also took aim at the comparisons with Michael Olise. They do the 18-year-old no favours, Hoeness said, because there is still a world between the two.
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A slow return from injury
Karl was one of last season’s breakthroughs at Bayern, with nine goals and eight assists. In October 2025 he became the club’s youngest scorer in the Champions League, at 17 years and 242 days, opening the scoring after five minutes against Club Brugge in a 4-0 win, and he was named man of the match on his first start. Comparisons with Lionel Messi followed, which Vincent Kompany pushed back on at the time.
Then came a left thigh injury in training a week before the World Cup, which ruled him out of Germany’s squad. He has not yet got back to that level. Karl has played 267 minutes across nine games this season and has one goal. Whether Hoeness’s words are a nudge or a warning, they land at a moment when Bayern are without their head coach for several weeks.
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