Lisa Baum: Why Arsenal, Barcelona, Man Utd & more are in a transfer race for RB Leipzig's 19-year-old winger

Born in Tanzania, to a German father and a Tanzanian mother, Baum's family relocated to Germany when she was just four years old. Her passion for football had already been established before that, with her regularly playing with her older brother, Dennis, who tragically passed away in a car accident at the age of 17.

Baum honours his memory every time she steps onto the pitch now, with his initials on her boots and tape on her wrist bearing his name and a quote. "That way, he's always with me," she told Die Welt. "I wish he was here and could see everything I do."

Upon moving to Germany, Baum started playing for local club MTV Ahrensbok before moving on to TSV Pansdorf, where she was the only girl. The club would soon share her services with Hamburg, whose youth academy she joined as a teenager. In August 2022, when she was still just 15 years old, Baum signed a first-team contract with HSV, tying her to the club until 2025.

The teenager would depart when that deal expired, to join RB Leipzig on a free transfer, but she played a huge part in helping to get Hamburg into the Frauen-Bundesliga, for the first time since 2012, in those three years. Her first season saw promotion to the second-tier and Baum also helped the club reach the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal, in the same year as promotion to the top-flight.

As she rose up through the ranks in the senior club game, the tricky forward was also establishing herself in the youth national teams in Germany. Playing in the Under-16s as a 14-year-old, the U17s as a 15-year-old and featuring in all five games as her nation reached the quarter-finals of the U20 World Cup, aged 17, Baum has been playing regularly with the U23s in recent months, despite still being just 19 years old.

Baum was much-sought after last summer, with Bayern Munich, her favourite club as a child, interested in her services, according to kicker. However, she chose to move to Leipzig instead, believing "a fresh start" would do her "good" after four years with Hamburg, while also citing the club's ambition as a point of attraction.

Crucially, having only won promotion to the Bundesliga in 2023, Leipzig are a team still making their way in the top-flight, too, rather than being a giant of the division with a star-studded squad. It meant that Baum was always likely to get a lot of game time and so it proved, with only three players in the squad seeing more league minutes than the teenager last term.

With those opportunities, she ended the campaign as RB Leipzig's joint-top goal-scorer in the league, racking up six goals and two assists in 23 starts for a side that finished 10th in a 14-team league. It was a season that saw Baum draw attention for her devastating wide play and ability to beat her marker, eventually resulting in the many transfer links that have since emerged.

Though last year was Baum's first season with Leipzig and her first in the German top-flight, she now looks set for her big move. Bayern are back in the mix for her signature, as are Barcelona, the reigning European champions who the 19-year-old has cited as a team she really enjoys watching. Also interested are Manchester United, London City and Lyon, the latter beaten in the Champions League final by Barca last month.

However, Bild reports that it is Arsenal who lead the race for Baum's signature. The Gunners have bid farewell to a lot of players in recent weeks, with England international Mead among the most notable. Her move to Manchester City leaves head coach Renee Slegers in need of reinforcements out wide and, in Baum, it seems she has found the sort of profile she would like to add to her squad.

Baum immediately stands out because of how direct she is. Her desire to be positive and push the team forward as quickly as possible makes her a real threat, with her clearly having no hesitation about running at defenders. The teenager's speed makes this direct style more effective, as does her skilfulness on the ball and ability to use both feet. The latter in particular makes her wonderfully unpredictable.

It means that Baum can cut inside and shoot or find space for a cross, and she is surprisingly good with her decision-making, despite her young age. It's an area of her game that can, and will, still improve, but that she ranked joint-seventh for chances created in the Bundesliga last season, playing for a team that finished 10th, says a lot.

In terms of her own goal threat, Baum has a fantastic strike from range, especially with her left foot, and she shows good anticipation and reading of the game to burst into goal-scoring areas at the right time, too. As for her out-of-possession qualities, the 19-year-old has an impressive work rate and brings a lot of energy to the press, which is a good thing to see from a young forward.

That attitude is in keeping with what those who have worked with Baum say of her as a person. Marwin Bolz, her coach at Hamburg, described her as a player who is "determined to improve", for example. "Not just in terms of her soccer skills, but also in her physical conditioning and mental toughness," he told the Hamburger Morgenpost.

That note on Baum's attitude is important as, of course, she does have weaknesses, as a young player, but none that cannot be addressed and improved with time and experience. While eager in her pressing, for example, she does still need to refine her actions a little and understand how to be most effective in that realm. That will come.

Similarly, realising when to be direct and really attack the opponent, and when to take a moment in possession to help the team build-up in a more considered way, is something Baum still needs to learn. She has good passing ability, though, and so will be able to iron that out, especially when she gets to a top team that dominates often. It's understandable in a team like Leipzig, that is still establishing itself, that she may want to go for it in transition more.

Then there is the fact that Baum can drift in and out of games at times. That's to be expected from a young forward, however, and with experience she will become more consistently influential. Adjusting to the physicality of the elite level is another thing that can come with time. She has played just one season of top-flight football, after all.

There are a couple of players that come to mind as a point of comparison when watching Baum play. Because of her great close control, trickery when dribbling and desire to be direct, she is similar in some ways to Kerolin, the Man City star.

Like Baum, the Brazilian can play in a variety of forward positions and, wherever she lines up, she will always try to drive at defenders and make things happen, either for others or herself. Baum, slightly taller than Kerolin, has the potential to be a more physically imposing player, though.

When the 19-year-old uses her agility to cut inside and strike from range, there are also shades of Salma Paralluelo, the Barcelona forward, about her. Paralluelo proved how deadly she is at that in the Champions League final, scoring a beauty to put Barca 3-0 up before adding a fourth a few minutes later. It's becoming a prominent ploy in Baum's game, too, though she does have more of the classic traits associated with a wide player than Paralluelo, who has been used as a centre-forward quite a lot in her career to date.

Given she has played just one season in the Bundesliga, it is going to be fascinating to see what Baum's next step is and how she adjusts to it. She does not have a lot of experience at the very highest level, but she does at least have a few seasons under her belt in the senior game, even if all-but-one came at a lower level.

Previously, there might have been more concern about a potential move to Arsenal, the front-runners for Baum's signature. The Gunners have signed several young players in recent years but struggled to integrate them into the first-team, such as Kathrine Kuhl, Rosa Kafaji and Gio Queiroz. Smilla Holmberg's progress this season, though, is perhaps a sign that things will be different under Slegers, who only took the job on a permanent basis in January of last year.

Joining the north London side would be a fit in terms of the squad, too, as Slegers does like to rotate her wide players a lot, both game-by-game and during matches, often swapping the players on the wings around the hour mark with her subs. That gradual exposure to the Women's Super League could be helpful for Baum, given her relative inexperience, as could Slegers' tendency to choose her wide players depending on who is best-suited to the game at hand.

But a move to Arsenal is still no done deal. Could another giant, like Barca, Lyon or Bayern, snap up Baum instead? Despite all being huge clubs, all three have good track records with young players. London City or Manchester United, meanwhile, may be able to offer more regular game time to the 19-year-old from the get-go.

That decision is now for Baum and those closest to her. It's a big one, but all signs point to her being a level-headed individual capable of making the right call.

"My goal isn't to be a star, I mainly want to be happy with what I do," she told Die Welt earlier this year, in an interview which saw her dismiss the idea of next summer's senior World Cup being a goal for her, with the home European Championship in 2029 instead a target. That long-term thinking and grounded nature, combined with such wonderful talent, could take Baum far.