Uli Hoeness has put the brakes on the hype around Lennart Karl, saying the 18-year-old is still far from being a superstar and needs humility, pressure and less protection. He made the comments as Karl's early promise has given way to a quieter spell in Bayern München's first team, where the teenager has 1 goal and 1 assist in 6 Bundesliga appearances this season.
Hoeness's message to Karl
Speaking to A Bola, Hoeness said, "I intend to have a serious conversation with him. He is far from being a superstar. Young players need humility." He also rejected the comparisons with Michael Olise, adding, "The comparisons with Olise do not help him at all. There is still a massive difference between them."
That is a hard public reset, and Bayern's honorary president has chosen to say it out loud rather than let the noise build around the player. Karl has played 250 minutes in the Bundesliga this season, a small enough workload to keep the discussion grounded, but also enough to show Bayern are already trying to manage expectations around him.
Karl's numbers and the gap to the hype
The numbers behind the warning are fairly plain. Karl has 1 Bundesliga goal and 0 assists, and his league rating of 6.56 sits well below the sort of output that would feed superstar billing. He has also played only 3 Champions League matches this season, where his 6.16 rating points to the same conclusion.
Hoeness's point is not that Karl lacks talent. It is that the talk around him has moved ahead of the evidence, especially when the comparisons with Olise are already in circulation. Bayern have a teenager with clear promise, but the production is still at the start of the curve, not the point where the club should be talking about finished stars.
Karl's next chances come quickly. Bayern host 1. FC Magdeburg in the DFB Pokal on 2026-10-28, then Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on 2026-10-31.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →
