The best German players in Premier League history
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Dozens of Germans have plied their trade in the Premier League over the years, beginning with Aston Villa’s Matthias Breitkreutz in December 1992.
Not all of them have been successes, but a fair few have made quite an impression on the English top flight.
Here, we’ve picked out the very best of them as of the end of 2024…
Thomas Hitzlsperger
Capped 52 times by his country, midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger played Premier League football for Aston Villa, West Ham and Everton, providing 17 assists in the competition.
Later of Stuttgart, Lazio and Wolfsburg, Hitzlsperger made the vast majority of his Prem appearances for Villa, featuring 99 times between 2000 and 2005.
Christian Ziege
A key member of Germany’s Euro 96-winning side, versatile left wing-back Christian Ziege arrived in the Premier League with Middlesbrough in 1999.
Renowned for his dead-ball prowess, the former Bayern Munich and Milan man went on to feature in the English top flight for Liverpool and Tottenham, chalking up 92 appearances and scoring 14 goals.
Uwe Rosler
Manchester City fan favourite Uwe Rosler notched 29 goals 79 Premier League outings for the club, including 15 in 31 during a career-best 1994/95 campaign.
A five-time East Germany international, the ex-Dynamo Dresden and Nurnberg striker later played 24 Prem games for Southampton at the start of the 2000s but failed to find the net.
Robert Huth
The first German player to reach the 300-appearance mark in the English top flight, central defender Robert Huth was a Premier League champion on three occasions: twice with Chelsea and once with Leicester.
And it was with the latter that the 19-cap international – who spent his entire career in England – really made his mark on the competition, starring throughout their improbable triumph of 2015/16.
Per Mertesacker
Arguably hugely underrated as a centre-back, 2014 World Cup winner Per Mertesacker was a mainstay of the Arsenal backline for the best part of five seasons.
What he lacked in pace, the six-foot-six giant more than made up for in positional awareness, and he captained the Gunners from 2016 until his retirement two years later.
Lukas Podolski
One of Germany’s most-capped players and top scorers, Lukas Podolski joined Arsenal from Koln ahead of the 2012/13 season.
The explosive forward enjoyed a strong debut Premier League campaign, netting 11 goals, including one in the North London derby against Tottenham – before adding eight more for the Gunners in 2013/14.
Jens Lehmann
Successor to David Seaman between the sticks for Arsenal, Jens Lehmann spent four seasons as the Gunners’ first-choice goalkeeper.
The former Borussia Dortmund custodian, capped 61 times by his country, was an ever present through the ‘Invincibles’ Premier League campaign of 2003/04, keeping the joint most clean sheets in the division (15) in what was his debut season in North London.
Didi Hamann
Didi Hamann featured over 250 times in the Premier League, turning out for Newcastle, Manchester City and, most notably, Liverpool.
Highly regarded for his consistency in the middle of the park, Hamann – who, while playing for Germany against England, (in)famously scored the last goal at the old Wembley – won the BBC’s 2003/04 Goal of the Season competition with a thumping volley for the Reds against Portsmouth.
Kai Havertz
Kai Havertz’s £72m move from Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea in 2020 made him the most expensive German footballer of all time – and while the Blues didn’t always seem to be able to incorporate him to maximum effect, his quality in the false nine role was immediately evident.
But Havertz went from strength to strength after making the switch across London to Arsenal in 2023, scoring 13 goals in his first Premier League campaign with the Gunners.
Leroy Sane
An electric winger who chalked up 25 goals in 90 Premier League games for Manchester City, Leroy Sane won the 2017/18 PFA Player of the Year award, having joined City from Schalke in the summer of 2016.
A title winner that season and the following campaign, Sane also provided 28 assists for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Pascal Gross
Joining Brighton from Ingolstadt in 2017, Pascal Gross scored the Seagulls’ first- and second-ever Premier League goals, and went on to be named the club’s Player of the Year on two occasions.
A well-rounded midfielder with great set-piece ability, he played a total of 228 top-flight games for the Sussex side – finding the net 30 times and setting up a further 45 goals – earning his first international cap in 2023.
Antonio Rudiger
Among the best centre-halves in the world at his peak, Antonio Rudiger gave Chelsea five seasons of passionately aggressive service.
Included in the 2021/22 PFA Team of the Year, Rudiger combined exceptional athleticism and tactical understanding to great effect, standing out as one of the most imposing defenders in the Premier League.
Michael Ballack
Undoubtedly one of the greatest German players of all time, Michael Ballack enjoyed a fine four-year Premier League spell at Chelsea, helping them to the 2009/10 title under Carlo Ancelotti.
The 98-cap international scored 17 Prem goals and set up a further 10, excelling in a variety of midfield roles for the Blues.
Ilkay Gundogan
A wonderfully versatile midfielder who Pep Guardiola described as “one of the best players [he’d] worked with”, Ilkay Gundogan was absolutely instrumental to multiple Premier League title successes at Manchester City.
Having arrived from Borussia Dortmund in 2016, Gundogan made 188 Prem appearances during his first spell at the Etihad Stadium, bagging a title-sealing brace against Aston Villa on the final day of 2021/22 and captaining City to the treble in 2022/23 – after which he left for Barcelona, only to return just over a year later.
Jurgen Klinsmann
One of the Premier League’s biggest overseas superstars of the 90s, World Cup winner Jurgen Klinsmann joined Tottenham from Monaco in the summer of 1994 – and wasted no time in lighting up the English top flight, banging in 20 goals in what proved to be his only full season with Spurs and scooping the FWA Footballer of the Year award.
The charismatic striker returned to White Hart Lane on loan from Sampdoria during the 1997/98 campaign – and treated the North Londoners to nine more goals in the final 15 league appearances of his career.
Mesut Ozil
A truly world-class playmaker who joined Arsenal from Real Madrid in his prime – his £42.5m fee breaking the German transfer record – Mesut Ozil was among the Premier League’s foremost creative forces for a number of seasons, laying on a league-high 19 assists in 2015/16 – when he was also voted the Gunners’ Player of the Year.
The 2014 World Cup winner and five-time German Player of the Year was a joy to watch in full flow, making a total of 184 Prem appearances and scoring 33 goals.
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