Signings, key players and more: your guide to the new Bundesliga

This Friday (21st) marks the start of another Bundesliga season, with the match between Bayern Munich and Leipzig at the Allianz Arena.

The new season brings exciting news both on and off the pitch.

And while the title race has a clear favorite, the other battles on the table promise to be highly competitive.

OneFootball is here to help you get ready for the championship, bringing you some of the main reasons to keep an eye on the German elite.

Most Expensive Signings

The arrival of Colombian Luis Díaz tops the list by a wide margin.

Here we highlight all the arrivals that cost more than 20 million euros.

The list is based on information from Transfermarkt and the amounts mentioned are in Euros.

Luis Díaz (forward 🇨🇴): Liverpool ➡️ Bayern Munich for 70 million

Jarrell Quansah (defender 🇬🇧): Liverpool ➡️ Bayer Leverkusen for 35 million

Malik Tillman (midfielder 🇺🇸): PSV ➡️ Bayer Leverkusen for 35 million

Jobe Bellingham (midfielder 🇺🇸): Sunderland ➡️ Borussia Dortmund for 30.5 million

Loic Badé (defender 🇫🇷): Sevilla ➡️ Bayer Leverkusen for 25 million

Ritsu Doan (forward 🇯🇵): Freiburg ➡️ Eintracht Frankfurt for 21 million

Jonathan Burkardt (forward 🇩🇪): Mainz ➡️ Eintracht Frankfurt for 21 million

Most Expensive Sales

Liverpool appears as the main player again, involved in the two most expensive transfers.

Here we list all the departures that cost more than 20 million euros.

The list is based on information from Transfermarkt and the amounts mentioned are in Euros.

Florian Wirtz (midfielder 🇩🇪): Bayer Leverkusen ➡️ Liverpool for 125 million

Hugo Ekitiké (forward 🇫🇷): Eintracht Frankfurt ➡️ Liverpool for 95 million

Benjamin Sesko (forward 🇸🇮): Leipzig ➡️ Manchester United for 76.5 million

Jamie Gittens (forward 🇬🇧): Borussia Dortmund ➡️ Chelsea for 56 million

Jeremie Frimpong (right-back 🇳🇱): Bayer Leverkusen ➡️ Liverpool for 40 million

Mathys Tel (forward 🇫🇷): Bayern Munich ➡️ Tottenham for 35 million

Enzo Millot (midfielder 🇫🇷): Stuttgart ➡️ Al-Ahli for 28 million

Kingsley Coman (forward 🇫🇷): Bayern Munich ➡️ Al-Nassr for 25 million

Ritsu Doan (forward 🇯🇵): Freiburg ➡️ Eintracht Frankfurt for 21 million

Jonathan Burkardt (forward 🇩🇪): Mainz ➡️ Eintracht Frankfurt for 21 million

Amine Adli (forward 🇲🇦): Bayer Leverkusen ➡️ Bournemouth for 21 million

Bavarian Super Attack

The offensive sector was the big highlight for Bayern Munich last season, the first under Vincent Kompany's leadership.

The team scored an incredible 99 goals in the 34 rounds of the Bundesliga.

In the last league phase of the Champions League, they were only behind Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund in this regard.

And now Luis Díaz arrives to add another heavyweight option to the squad.

The problem is that, numerically, the squad also lost a lot with the departures of Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sané, and Thomas Müller.

Additionally, Jamal Musiala will miss a good part of the season due to the injury he suffered at the Club World Cup.

Is the current squad enough to compete not only for the Bundesliga, but also for the European title?

Leverkusen Overhaul

Champions in 2024, Bayer Leverkusen is undergoing a complete overhaul this transfer window.

Several key players from the historic campaign that led to the Bundesliga title have left the club, including coach Xabi Alonso.

See below the main players who left Leverkusen:

Florian Wirtz ➡️ Liverpool

Jeremie Frimpong ➡️ Liverpool

Granit Xhaka ➡️ Sunderland

Jonathan Tah ➡️ Bayern Munich

Lukas Hradecky ➡️ Monaco

Erik ten Hag arrives as a replacement and will have the tough task of leading this overhaul.

What Will Dortmund Look Like?

Borussia Dortmund's transfer market was less active than in other recent seasons.

Niko Kovac continues the work started at the beginning of 2025, needing to show the true identity of his team.

Dortmund had an incredible final stretch in the Bundesliga last season, winning seven of the last eight rounds.

But their participation in the Club World Cup was not encouraging.

Will the team be able to stay in the Bundesliga's top four without major scares this time?

Giants Return

The two teams promoted from the second to the first division are old acquaintances of German fans.

Hamburg is back after seven nightmare seasons in the 2. Bundesliga.

The club from northern Germany, Champions League winners in 1981, was joined in promotion by Cologne, the first ever Bundesliga champions.

In addition to tradition, both clubs have large fanbases and are counting on them to stay in the top flight.

Brazilians Arriving

The transfer window is still open, but we already know that two Brazilians will be new faces in the 2025/26 Bundesliga.

Forward Rômulo was signed by Leipzig after a good season with Göztepe, in Turkey.

Revealed by Athletico, he now has the chance to fill the gap left by Benjamin Sesko, who was sold to Manchester United.

At Wolfsburg, the Brazilian reinforcement was Vinícius Souza, bought from Sheffield United.

A former Flamengo player, he has already started for his new team in the season opener, in the German Cup.

Check out below all the Brazilians currently in Bundesliga squads:

Matchday 1

Check out the matches for the first round of the Bundesliga below:

Bayern Munich vs Leipzig

Bayer Leverkusen vs Hoffenheim

Union Berlin vs Stuttgart

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Werder Bremen

Freiburg vs Augsburg

Heidenheim vs Wolfsburg

St. Pauli vs Borussia Dortmund

Mainz vs Cologne

Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Hamburg

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 Alexander Hassenstein - 2025 Getty Images