Taufig Khalil became aware of Karl’s progress two years ago when his teenage son, then 15 like Karl, went to watch his friend play against a Bayern U17s side containing the winger.
“When my son came home he said ‘Papa, it’s unbelievable. This guy, Lennart Karl, he scored five goals’,” Bayern Munich reporter Khalil told BBC Sport.
“It was pretty obvious that this kid had something really special.”
Last season, Karl notched 34 goals and 11 assists in 31 games for Bayern and Germany’s U17 sides combined, earning him a surprise call-up to Vincent Kompany’s squad for the Club World Cup.
Such ruthless finishing probably could have been predicted.
In 2018, a 10-year-old Karl went viral for an audacious goal he scored while playing for Eintracht Frankfurt’s U11s in a sports hall.
With his back to goal, Karl controlled an aerial ball with a back heel before swivelling and rifling a left-footed volley into the top corner.
Karl won Eintracht’s academy goal of the year award, and was presented with a custom pair of Nike boots at a Bundesliga match by the club’s then president Peter Fischer and then sporting director Fredi Bobic.
Born 45 minutes from Frankfurt am Main in the north-west Bavarian town of Frammersbach, Karl joined Eintracht’s academy in 2017 from his first club Viktoria Aschaffenburg.
Eintracht saw huge potential in Karl, but then so did Bayern.
It remains a sore point at Eintracht that, after relations between Karl’s parents and the club took a turn, he briefly rejoined Aschaffenburg before Bayern recruited him aged 14 in 2022.
According to SportBild, external, Germany’s most successful club topped up the nominal compensation fee owed for a junior player to 35,000 euros, divided between his two former teams.
“We tried everything and would have done anything for him,” Eintracht’s former head of academy Andreas Moller told told Merkur earlier this year, external.
“But Bayern has a very special appeal, and we had no chance.”
Karl’s younger brother Vincent still plays in Eintracht’s youth teams.
Fast forward to June 2025 and Karl made his senior Bayern debut in the 10-0 thrashing of Auckland City at the Club World Cup in the United States.
After reports of interest from Real Madrid and Ajax, Karl signed his first professional contract over the summer.
So far this season he has made 15 appearances, with his direct and fearless playing style earning plenty of plaudits and comparisons to legends of the game.
“He plays the Messi style, because his centre of gravity is very low, which means he can make very fast turns,” Khalil said of the 5ft 6in Karl.
“He uses his centre of gravity to make fast turns and cuts, like an NFL running back. Sometimes he does it too much, but he is young.”
There are similarities with former Bayern forward Arjen Robben too. Like Robben, defenders know Karl wants to cut in from the right wing and shoot with his left foot.
Like Robben, defenders find it very difficult to stop him.
“Even among non-Bayern fans, there’s a real appreciation for Karl’s energy and technical quality,” German football journalist Mark Lovell told BBC Sport.
“He plays with freedom and confidence, and that’s refreshing to see at a club where the pressure is so intense.”
