Stefanos Tzimas has been quietly making waves in the German second tier under legendary goalscorer Miroslav Klose’s tutorship at Nürnberg. Now linked to Liverpool, is he ready to make the big step up?
Historically speaking, there’s not a long line of prolific Greek goalscorers across the top European leagues.
Theofanis Gekas topped the Bundesliga scoring charts with 20 goals for VfL Bochum in 2006-07, while only three players bettered his 16 goals for Eintracht Frankfurt in 2010-11, but he is one of very few success stories.
Kostas Mitroglou had an exceptional two seasons at Benfica between 2015 and 2017 where he scored 36 goals in the Portuguese top flight, but never replicated those heights elsewhere outside of his homeland. Even one of Greece’s Euro 2004 heroes, Angelos Charisteas, failed to reach double figures for league goals within a top-five European league season.
In the Premier League, Stelios Giannakopoulos scored 20 times across 139 games, while the next highest scoring Greek forward in the competition’s history is Georgios Samaras with just eight goals in 60 appearances.
Stefanos Tzimas could be a player that changes all of that, however. The teenage striker has been linked to a move to Liverpool in the January transfer window after a brilliant start to his career in both Greece and Germany.
At only 19 years old, Tzimas is a curveball target for the Reds given he has very limited first-team experience. But despite that, he’s already shown that he could be a very exciting talent to keep an eye on.
Tzimas only played 20 times in the Greek top flight for PAOK Salonika after making his debut as a late substitute in February 2023. Less than two weeks later, he’d created history by becoming PAOK’s youngest goalscorer in their 6-0 rout of Ionikos FC. Aged just 17 years and 58 days old, Tzimas scored with just his second shot in top-flight football.
Last season saw Tzimas appear more frequently in the Greek top flight. He made 16 appearances overall, but only three of those came as a starter. Tzimas bagged three times as PAOK won the Super League title, and that was enough to alert 2. Bundesliga side Nürnberg last summer.
The German club secured his services on a season-long loan, with an €18 million option to buy after the first season. That’s something they might now look to activate halfway through the deal and potentially still make a good profit on before 2024-25 is over.
Nürnberg struggled in front of goal last season, with only the bottom four clubs in the table scoring fewer than their 43 goals. However, even though we’re only halfway through the 2024-25 campaign, they are only 12 off that tally (31) largely thanks to Tzimas’ performances.
In moving to Nürnberg, Tzimas has been able to learn from one of the best strikers in German history, with the World Cup’s all-time record scorer Miroslav Klose managing the club following his appointment last summer.
After a gradual introduction into the first team, Tzimas’ fourth successive league appearance off the bench saw him score the opening goal in a 2-1 away win at SSV Ulm. Since that matchday, only Hamburger SV’s Davie Selke (10) has scored more goals in the German second tier than Tzimas (8). Six of those eight league goals have been first-time finishes, with all showing excellent instinct in front of goal and clever movement away from opposition defenders.
In fact, only two teenagers this century have managed more goals at the halfway point of a 2. Bundesliga season than Tzimas in 2024-25: Kevin Volland in 2011-12 and Lukas Podolski in 2004-05 (both nine goals).
His first six months at Nürnberg have shown him to be a high frequency shooter – he averages four per game – who comes to life in the box. The Greek has averaged 8.1 touches in the opposition box per 90, the highest figure in the 2. Bundesliga, while of players to have at least 300 touches in the competition this season, Tzimas has the highest proportion of those inside the box (23%).
Nürnberg are a team who don’t actively press high up the pitch and like to attack quickly from deeper positions. Nürnberg’s start distance – the average distance in metres from their own goal they start their open-play sequences – is the lowest in the league at 38.8m, while only two teams have attempted more shots from fast breaks than they have (22).
Tzimas is the perfect striker in their system. With great pace and acceleration, he’s had great success catching opposition defenders napping with rapid runs across them to meet crosses or low passes into the box.
Because of this, the Greek teenager doesn’t get too involved in his side’s build-up play. Of his 54 open-play sequence involvements that have led to a team shot, 74.1% of those (40) have seen his sole involvement come as the shot taker. Only Ragnar Ache (76.0%) has a higher average among the 60 players in 2. Bundesliga with at least 50 open-play shot involvements.
There have been many goalscorers to come out of the second tier in Germany and go on to continue their goalscoring feats at the very top level.
Podolski, Rudi Völler, Jürgen Klinsmann and Tony Yeboah are some of the names that began life in 2. Bundesliga and forged fantastic careers. Could Tzimas be next?
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