Young professional in the spotlight: Always stay down to earth

Bavaria's sports director Max Eberl had to report a new interim status regarding Lennart Karl. He had another conversation “and Lenny responded great.” That probably means that the 18-year-old showed insight. Or maybe it was just the strong performance against Mainz that Karl crowned with a goal. Eberl didn't know whether Uli Hoeneß had already had the announced “serious conversation”. We'll definitely find out soon. “Young players need humility,” Hoeneß authoritatively proclaimed.

Now you have to make some effort to understand what the Lennart Karl debate that has been going on for weeks is actually about. The Bayern management level, Karl's advisor Michael Ballack, the Bild newspaper and countless ex-professionals discuss in ping-pong about, yes, what actually? That Karl was inappropriately self-confident for a young professional?

That his temporary dip in performance could somehow be related to what he posts on Instagram? It gets weirder with every round. Then Lennart Karl made a “blabla” gesture after his goal against Atlético and the whole carousel started again.

Lennart Karl doesn't post particularly more than other footballers. Hoeneß gave an idea of ​​what it was all about in the spring when he explained: "You don't have to appear on the Internet in a pink suit. But we experienced the same thing with Bastian Schweinsteiger when he painted his fingernails black. Franz and I also intervened." Because Franz and Uli didn't like it at all when players dressed too conspicuously. Humility! The fact that the color pink or painted nails cause high blood pressure says more about the blatant sexism in football than about Lennart Karl.

It looks similar with the rebuke that the Bayern frontline recently expressed via picture. Karl shows himself too much on social media in “his private life with his influencer girlfriend Zoe Käppele”. And should take teammate Tom Bischof as an example. He consistently keeps his relationship with Scholl's daughter and influencer Josefine out of the public eye. Where do we get to when women are visible on social media?

In addition to the patriarchal undertone, this is a fascinating insight into the narrative machine in late football capitalism. People in the industry are regularly outraged when footballers appear too much like lifestyle influencers. Leroy Sané was often accused of wearing too much luxury fashion or hanging out too often at Fashion Week. Footballers have long been global influencers, but they are supposed to embody a 1960s ideal of the down-to-earth hard worker à la Harry Kane.

And that's what really bothers us in the Lennart Karl case: that he flaunts his wealth online. “Glamour lifestyle” was the word that anonymous Bayern sources whispered to the tabloid. As is well known, all football stars lead a glamorous lifestyle; they are millionaires. But they just shouldn't show it. At least not while they are still young and a debate about undeserved privileges is looming.

Lennart Karl, however, presents himself online with the desire for wealth that social advancement brings with it: surrounded by seven pairs of very expensive-looking shoes or in a luxury hotel surrounded by bags from a luxury brand, on a jet ski or in a posh restaurant. One can feel a little reminded of Franck Ribéry's gold leaf steak scandal. They can be extremely rich. But they should convey a life that says to every 18-year-old: I'm like you. Football, Playstation and maybe a beach vacation. There's nothing to see here.

Now you really don't have to see this Lennart Karl as a primal sympathizer. His vibe is more that of a Kimmich-like ambitious man. He obviously thinks he's pretty great, and if he doesn't get enough of a chance, there's a hefty comeback with a goal celebration. But as long as he worked like clockwork on the pitch, it didn't bother FC Bayern. On the contrary, people like him were often sent to media work. Finally a real guy again.

He just shouldn't be too much of a guy. How teenagers are treated says a lot about football's eternal paradox in its longing for real guys (often a code word for toxic masculinity), which then immediately needs to be contained again. Because at least in Germany, the abundance of footballers is readily accepted, but only as long as they play Biedermeier.

Lennart Karl doesn't seem to care much. He understood well that the position of provocateur in German football has been unused for many years and that an entire sports media bubble has been waiting to fill it. That every new excitement means a strengthening of his brand and therefore more sneakers for him. As long as he scores goals, that is.