With 16 matches played and the Christmas break upon us, it is time to take a look at the best individual performances of the 2023/24 Bundesliga season thus far by naming a Team of the Season.
It should come as no surprise that Bayern Munich are well-represented, but with an undefeated Bayer Leverkusen rocking the BuLi in first, it is actually Die Werkself who have the most players in the TOTS. It’s not even close.
Usual runner-ups Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, are nowhere to be found, highlighting the club’s dysfunction under a clearly overmatched Edin Terzić.
GK Lukas Hradecky, Bayer Leverkusen
LB Álex Grimaldo, Bayer Leverkusen
CB Kim Min-Jae, Bayern Munich
CB Odilon Koussounou, Bayer Leverkusen
RB Jeremie Frimpong, Bayer Leverkusen
The defense is almost entirely dominated by Bayer Leverkusen, with Lukas Hradecky enjoying a marvelous bounce-back season to edge out usual Team of the Season favorite Gregor Kobel of Borussia Dortmund.
Kim Min-jae has picked up where he left off last season at Napoli by being even more dominant for his new outfit. The Bayern Munich summer signing is legitimately the best center back in world football right now.
Odilon Koussounou just makes it in over his more experienced teammate Jonathan Tah, who is now squarely atop Bayern’s wishlist at center back. The next big thing at CB, Koussounou is finding his confidence under Xabi Alonso.
Out of all these players, though, Álex Grimaldo is the most impressive. A complete player at left back, Grimaldo can influence matches with his passing and scoring touch like a midfielder. He is a legitimate Player of the Season candidate.
CM Xavi Simons, RB Leipzig
CM Exequiel Palacios, Bayer Leverkusen
CM Florian Wirtz, Bayer Leverkusen
Speaking of Player of the Season candidates, Xavi Simons is having a mind-blowing first season for RB Leipzig, helping the team make up for the departure of Christopher Nkunku to Chelsea.
Nkunku was a Player of the Season winner over Robert Lewandowski during his time with the east German club, and now Simons is filling his shoes with inspired all-around play.
Florian Wirtz has already arrived alongside Bayern’s Jamal Musiala as the new playmaking jewel of German football.
With 2.9 dribbles completed and 2.4 key passes per game, he continues to shine as Leverkusen’s biggest star despite all the breakout performances around him.
LW Chris Führich, Stuttgart
ST Harry Kane, Bayern Munich
RW Leroy Sané, Bayern Munich
Stuttgart look stronger than Dortmund this season and have more than a fair shot at becoming the next fairytale Bundesliga side, one season after nearly being relegated.
Serhou Guirassy may have missed out on this Team of the Season because of new Bayern Munich signing Harry Kane’s record-breaking brilliance, but Chris Führich was a shoe-in on the left wing to make up for it. Führich is such a smooth inverted player.
Leroy Sané and Kane are the new dynamic duo in Bavaria. Kane is undoubtedly the best striker in the world right now with 21 goals and 5 assists in another masterful all-around season. Robert who?
Meanwhile, Sané has improved under both Thomas Tuchel and Kane, fulfilling his potential as an all-around attacking machine. Ruthlessly efficient yet also capable of the spectacular in a moment’s notice, Sané has eight goals and eight assists of his own.
The underlying stats are Ballon d’Or level, right there with Kane. Sané is averaging 4.2 dribbles completed and 3.3 key passes per game for Die Roten. Absolute baller.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He has been an editor for NFL Spin Zone, Daily DDT for pro wrestling, Autzen Zoo covering the Oregon Ducks, Musket Fire covering the New England Patriots, The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Old Juve covering Juventus, Rush The Kop covering Liverpool, and Release The Knappen covering Schalke. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.