Only Harry Kane is better! A former right-back has suddenly become Germany's second-highest goalscorer

Unlike in the Premier League, the top scorer here plies his trade for the team in sixteenth place. He has found the net 17 times in 18 appearances so far—an impressive return of a goal every 93 minutes. In the three German professional divisions, only the aforementioned Kane (a goal every 65 minutes) has a better ratio, while Kane's closest pursuer, Deniz Undav of VfB Stuttgart, manages a strike only every 106 minutes.

The man in question is Mateusz Zukowski of 1. FC Magdeburg. The 24-year-old Pole has netted just over 35 per cent of his club's goals and chipped in with three assists, keeping the relegation-threatened side afloat.

Anyone who assumes Zukowski is merely enjoying a hot streak, as many strikers occasionally do, should know that Magdeburg signed him last summer as a right-back—and he was already carrying a metatarsal fracture. 

Zukowski had suffered the injury while still at his previous club, Slask Wroclaw. FCM had initially wanted to avoid a transfer. However, after last season's top scorer Martijn Kaars (19 goals) joined FC St. Pauli in a club-record deal worth four million euros, the club moved to sign Zukowski for 250,000 euros on the penultimate day of the window, calling him a "signing for the future" despite his injury. (sporting director Otmar Schork).

The move was unusual, not only because Zukowski missed the first eight matches of the season while recovering and had scored only five goals in 132 previous appearances. FCM never intended to use him as a striker: throughout his career, Zukowski had operated mainly as a right-back, a role that had taken him from Lechia Gdańsk to Rangers in 2022 for €600,000.

He struggled to break into the first team, made only one appearance, and after seven months returned to Poland on loan at Lech Poznań. Almost three years ago, Wroclaw pounced to re-sign him. Overall, Zukowski has 105 top-flight appearances in his homeland, but 52 of those came as a substitute.

At WKS Ślask Wrocław, who were relegated to the second division last season, Zukowski was finally given the chance to show his versatility. He often appeared on the right or left wing and even started three times as a centre-forward. Despite that, he scored only twice in 37 competitive matches during the 2024/25 campaign.

After arriving in Magdeburg, he missed two months following foot surgery. During that period, the club made a poor start to the campaign, leading head coach Markus Fiedler to resign. Petrik Sander replaced him and, as soon as Zukowski was fit, slotted the forward straight into the attack.

The coach immediately deployed the four-time U21 international in attack, largely thanks to one training session. "We didn't know exactly what sort of player he was. At some point we had a final training session focusing on shooting. He was hammering the ball into the net so hard that the goalkeepers didn't know which way to turn. Petrik Sander then said that Mateusz had no business playing at right-back," explained strike partner Baris Atik recently on "At Broski – Die Sport-Show". 

Without Atik—who has already contributed five goals and eleven assists as a left winger—and Zukowski, Magdeburg would be in far deeper trouble. "I know Mateusz inside out and know how he ticks," Atik says. "I watch his runs and he anticipates my passes; it works very well."

Zukowski's game is multi-faceted: he is strong in the air, technically sound, and physically imposing, making him an effective target man. His pace is impressive, and his ability to read the game allows him to attack space with power and finish chances. By his eleventh outing he had already reached double figures on the scoresheet—an feat achieved faster only by two others in the single-division 2. Bundesliga since 1981: Saarbrücken's Sambo Choji in 2000 and Patrick Helmes for Cologne in 2006.

His rapid ascent is even more impressive given his background. At 20, while playing in Gdańsk, he told the podcast 'Znajomi Ze Slyszenia' that his mother had suffered domestic violence at the hands of his father: "He beat my mother; it was a difficult time at home." 

His mother required four surgeries as a result, and two of his brothers went off the rails. He even spent years in therapy. "I don't like to think about it. My mum often does, and then she starts crying," he says. Zukowski has had her date of birth tattooed on his body. "I've always told myself that I want to help my family and get back on our feet through football, so that we can have a better life."

He has already achieved that goal financially, yet his continued top form means even more lucrative earnings could follow. Like Kaars last year, he could leave FCM after just one season, as scouts now watch him regularly. The club from Saxony-Anhalt has not disclosed how long his contract runs.

"It's the nature of the business that a player who scores a lot of goals will attract attention from other clubs," said Schork's successor, Peer Jaekel, recently. "We will do everything to make Magdeburg as attractive as possible for him, and I hope he keeps scoring and stays for a long time." That may be ambitious, especially if the club is relegated.