Werder Bremen spent much of last season scrapping against relegation, and Marco Grüll was one of the players who struggled most. Across 33 Bundesliga appearances, the Austrian managed just four direct goal involvements. From the end of October 2025 to the end of the season in mid-May 2026, his goal in the 4-1 win at Union Berlin at the start of March was Grüll's only scoring contribution. A pretty meagre return for an attacking player.
That makes his start to the 2026/27 campaign all the more astonishing. In the summer, Werder had at times already considered him a candidate for sale. Four matchdays in, he has already beaten last season's numbers, with six scoring contributions in the league: two goals and four assists.
Harry Kane, Serhou Guirassy, Luis Diaz, Deniz Undav: Werder's breakout performer has so far outshone them all, more or less clearly. Only Michael Olise can keep pace with Grüll at this admittedly very early stage of the season. The Bremen man shares top spot in the Bundesliga scoring charts with the Bayern Munich superstar, who also has six direct goal involvements, four goals and two assists.
What did Werder coach Thioune say about Grüll recently?
"I don't know whether we at Werder Bremen have ever seen Marco Grüll in better condition," said coach Daniel Thioune after the last match before the international break, when Grüll contributed decisively with a goal and two assists to Werder's spectacular comeback, which ended in an important 3-2 home win against FC Augsburg. After a fine dribble, he emphatically made it 2-1, and after the rather fortunate assist for Niclas Füllkrug's equaliser, he ultimately added a clever cut-back for match-winner Mitchell Weiser.
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A second home masterclass had already arrived for Grüll in this still young season. He had also starred in the 3-1 win against Champions League participants RB Leipzig at the start of September, with a goal and an assist. His top form also brought another reward, a call-up to the Austria national team for the first time in ten months and after missing the World Cup.
His route to the top was a pretty unusual one for an international player. Grüll never featured in the youth ranks of one of Austria's big clubs. He did have the chance, "at 13 or 14", "to go to an academy. But I preferred to stay at home because I simply felt more comfortable in the village with my friends and family," Grüll explained in an interview with Bild after his move to Werder in 2024. Instead of playing youth football at a high level, he moved into senior football early, joining Austrian third-tier side TSV St. Johann at 17 and quickly becoming a regular there.
Marco Grüll did not take the classic route to the top
At that stage he was not yet a professional. He was still playing football on the side and working a normal job. First he was a salesman at a sports goods retailer, although "at some point it became uncomfortable with my colleagues because I constantly couldn't work on Saturdays. So I switched to the post office." His routine then was clear: delivering letters from 7am to 2pm, then training, with weekends free for matches. "You appreciate it very differently when suddenly there is only football," he stressed, making it clear that, given his background, life as a professional could never become something he took for granted.
Just after turning 20 and still in Austria's third division, Grüll gave himself one last chance before the 2018/19 season to fulfil his professional dream. "Now or never, otherwise I would have done something else and maybe still be at the post office," he said. It paid off. After an outstanding first half of the season with 19 goals in 17 third-division matches, then second-tier side SV Ried came calling at the start of 2019. He made an instant impact there and won promotion to the top flight with them a year and a half later. A move to Austrian top club Rapid Vienna followed in 2021, and since 2024 Grüll has been wearing the Werder shirt.
Little in pre-season pointed to Grüll attacking 2026/27 in such spectacular fashion after a decent first season in Germany's top flight and a weak campaign last year. Competition in attack had also become fierce for the 28-year-old, who over the previous two years at Werder had been seen as a classic all-rounder and had played at times as a centre-forward, at times on the right, at times on the left and at times as a second striker, with the high-profile additions of Eren Dinkci, Niclas Füllkrug and Cedric Itten. He was also far from convincing in the weeks before the start of the season, though Grüll did not let that unsettle him.
What stands out about Marco Grüll at Werder Bremen?
Grüll has a "style of play where I already need to be fully up to speed", he explained after the Augsburg match, in which he was named man of the match. "That's why I prefer it when I perform in the season." That is exactly what he has done in recent weeks, helping Werder enormously with his two biggest strengths, high speed and exquisite finishing with a good mix of power and technique.
Getty Images"People always see him as a squad player," Thioune recently pointed out, noting that Grüll is sometimes underestimated. "You're always glad that he works hard, that he sticks to tactical instructions and that he is generally always reliable - but no footballer wants to hear that said about him," Bremen's coach explained, revealing that he and his staff also nudged Grüll a little in the direction he has now taken: "Maybe we pointed out to him that now he can also show qualities that he does possess," said Thioune.
Samuel Mbangula, signed from Juventus Turin last year for a hefty €10 million fee and currently on loan at FC Bologna, is certainly not being missed in Bremen at the moment. He would have been one of Grüll's main competitors, and Grüll is also benefiting from Thioune now using him consistently in what is supposedly his best position on the left wing. "Cutting inside from the left and finishing with his right, that is his weapon," Werder's head of licensed football Peter Niemeyer stressed back in the summer. That was before Grüll's flying start, which in the best-case scenario will provide the platform for perhaps the best season of his career so far.