No Bundesliga game, but captain in England: the unusual career path of Germany newcomer Vitaly Janelt

One thing is certain: Vitaly Janelt's career at Brentford is special. The numbers alone tell you that. A German professional with 166 Premier League appearances, 12 goals and two recent outings as captain is now one of England's most reliable holding midfielders, yet at 28 he has still not played a single international or Bundesliga match.

Between 2017 and 2020, Janelt made only 54 appearances in German professional football for VfL Bochum. Now the Hamburg-born midfielder is one of 11 new faces in Jürgen Klopp's Germany squad and could make his debut against Serbia on Thursday. Almost exactly ten years ago, though, it looked like his DFB career would be over before it had even properly begun.

During a European Championship qualifier in Albania in autumn 2016, Janelt was away with Germany's Under-19s. Along with his then RB Leipzig team-mate Idrissa Toure, he is said to have brought a shisha pipe into the hotel room and smoked it. While both were out at training, a burn mark appeared in the room. What exactly happened remains unclear to this day.

Vitaly Janelt's shisha scandal: what were the consequences at RB Leipzig?

The fallout came straight away. Officials sent the two teenagers home early, where an enraged Ralf Rangnick was waiting for them in Leipzig. He acted ruthlessly, kicking Janelt and Toure out of the academy and the boarding school, and banning them from team training and matches until the end of the year.

They were also fined and ordered to complete hundreds of hours of community service at a day-care centre, working shifts from 7am to 3pm. The scale of the punishment sparked debate at the time, not least because both players strongly denied the incident. They said they had neither brought nor smoked the shisha themselves, but had left the room to other players, including 18-year-old Borussia Dortmund talent Felix Passlack.

Neither Janelt nor Toure had a clean disciplinary record, though. They had allegedly turned up late for training more than once and ordered pizza to the boarding school without permission. Looking back on the scandal nearly a decade later, Janelt said in recent days: "At the end of the day, I'm ten years older now. I have a young daughter, everyone grows up at some point. Especially boys. Women are a bit calmer when it comes to doing stupid shit. I think everyone has to learn from their mistakes. I realised that relatively quickly. What happened, happened."

Vitaly Janelt joined Brentford for just €600,000

Janelt then tried to restart his career at Bochum in the 2. Bundesliga, but he never really nailed down a regular starting place in three and a half years. At Brentford, everything changed straight away.

For what counted as a bargain by English standards, just €600,000, he moved to west London and the Championship six years ago. The defensive midfielder quickly became a key man and helped the Bees win the first Premier League promotion in the club's history in his debut season.

Brentford then stayed up comfortably in the top flight and Janelt made himself indispensable in defensive midfield. He has clocked up at least 30 appearances in almost every season. Only a metatarsal fracture kept him out for an extended spell last season. He fought his way back and has long been held in the highest regard inside the squad.

What are Vitaly Janelt's strengths?

At Brentford, Janelt wins duels, protects the back line and gives the build-up structure with his security on the ball. Bees coach Keith Andrews called him the "glue" that holds everything together. His game does not grab the headlines, but his value becomes obvious when he is missing. At the start of the year, he signed a new contract until 2030.

He summed up his outlook like this: "Individual quality can be bought, mentality and togetherness cannot," before adding, in words that sounded like Klopp: "If you don't work hard together as a team, it's difficult to be competitive." Janelt says of himself: "I think I'm good for a team, I see myself as a team player. I do the dirty work for the lads in front of me."

Although Janelt won the European Championship with Germany's Under-21s in 2021 as a squad player, the door to the very top stayed shut for years. Before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he is said to have been on Hansi Flick's mysterious 55-man list.

Vitaly Janelt is on the verge of his DFB team debut against Serbia

Janelt said: "At a quiet club like Brentford, which not many people in Germany have on their radar, it's not so easy to come into the spotlight. Of course I would have liked to have been involved earlier, I would have hoped for a chance." He added: "Brentford aren't Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City, I know that. At some point I just didn't feel like talking about it in interviews any more. If the coach fancies me, he fancies me. If not, then not. I'm not angry with anyone. Every coach has their own idea."

His first senior call-up has now come under Klopp, and Janelt believes the Germany coach's many years working in England with Liverpool are "probably good for me". He said: "I'm very happy that I'm here now at the age of 28. It's one of the last chances for me to be involved in one or two major tournaments."

With Joshua Kimmich and Felix Nmecha failing to shine as the double pivot in Klopp's first two matches, and the DFB team still short of a genuine No 6 who can both play and compete physically, Janelt could get his first chance to prove himself in Munich. Ten years on from the scandal in Shkodra, it would be a fitting reward for a rocky and unusual career path.

Vitaly Janelt: the performance data from his professional career

Period Club Competitive matches Goals Assists

2017-2020 VfL Bochum 54 2 4

since 2020 Brentford 232 16 16