From the shisha scandal to a trump card for Jürgen Klopp? How Vitaly Janelt, once the villain in Leipzig, became England's most inconspicuous ball-winner

Almost exactly ten years to the day after being kicked out of the DFB's Under-19s, Brentford FC's Vitaly Janelt is on the verge of his senior international debut. Will the 28-year-old also become "the glue" for Jürgen Klopp?

One thing is certain: Brentford FC midfielder Vitaly Janelt has had an unusual career. A German professional with 166 Premier League appearances to his name, along with 12 goals, he has even captained his side twice in the competition and ranks among England's most reliable holding midfielders. Yet at 28, he has played neither a Bundesliga match nor a senior international.

He has made only 54 appearances in Germany's professional game, all for VfL Bochum between 2017 and 2020. Now, though, the Hamburg-born midfielder is one of 11 new faces in Jürgen Klopp's Germany squad and could make his debut against Serbia on Thursday. Almost exactly ten years ago, however, it looked as if Janelt's DFB career might be over before it had really begun.

Back in autumn 2016, Janelt was with the Germany Under-19 side in Albania for a European Championship qualifier. Along with his then RB Leipzig team-mate Idrissa Toure, he is said to have brought a shisha pipe into the hotel room and smoked it. While both players were at training, a burn mark appeared in the room. What happened in detail has never been fully cleared up.

Vitaly Janelt’s shisha scandal: what were the consequences at RB Leipzig?

The consequences came straight away: the two teenagers were sent home early, where an enraged Ralf Rangnick met them in Leipzig. He came down hard, throwing Janelt and Toure out of the youth academy and boarding school and banning them from team training and matches until the end of the year.

They were also fined and ordered to complete hundreds of hours of community service at a daycare centre, working shifts from 7am to 3pm. The scale of the punishment sparked debate at the time, especially as both young players strongly denied the incident. They said they had neither brought nor smoked the shisha themselves, but had left the room to other players, including 18-year-old BVB talent Felix Passlack.

Neither Janelt nor Toure had a clean disciplinary record. The pair had allegedly turned up late for training on several occasions or ordered pizza to the boarding school without permission. Looking back on the scandal almost a decade later, Janelt said in recent days: "At the end of the day, I’m now ten years older. I have a young daughter, everyone grows up at some point. Especially boys. Women are a bit calmer when it comes to doing stupid things. I believe everyone has to learn from their mistakes. I realised that relatively quickly. What was, was."

Vitaly Janelt joined Brentford FC for just €600,000

Janelt then opted for a fresh start at Bochum in the second tier, but he was far from a regular starter over those three and a half years. Everything changed at Brentford.

Six years ago, he moved to west London and the Championship for what was, by English standards, a mere €600,000. The holding midfielder quickly established himself as a key player there and helped the Bees win promotion to the Premier League in his debut season, the first in the club's history.

Brentford then stayed up comfortably in the top flight, with Janelt becoming indispensable in defensive midfield. He made at least 30 appearances in almost every season. Only last season did a metatarsal fracture keep him out for a longer spell. Janelt battled back and has long commanded huge respect within the squad.

What are Vitaly Janelt’s strengths?

At Brentford, Janelt is a physically strong ball-winner who thrives in duels, organises the defence and brings structure to the build-up with his security on the ball. Bees coach Keith Andrews called him the "glue" that holds everything together. His game does not always catch the eye, but his value becomes obvious the moment he is missing. At the start of the year, he extended his contract until 2030.

"Individual quality can be bought, mentality and togetherness cannot," he said, sounding rather like Klopp: "If you don’t work hard together as a team, it is difficult to be competitive." Janelt says of himself: "I think I’m good for a team, I see myself as a team player. I do the dirty work for the lads in front of me."

Although Janelt won the European Championship with Germany Under-21 in 2021 as a reserve player, the door to the very top stayed closed for years. Before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he is said to have been on Hansi Flick's mysterious 55-man list.

Vitaly Janelt poised for Germany debut against Serbia

"At a quiet club like Brentford, which not many people in Germany really have on their radar, it’s not so easy to come into the spotlight. Of course I would have liked to have been involved at an earlier point, I would have hoped for a chance," said Janelt. "Brentford are not Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City, that’s clear to me. At some point I no longer felt like talking about it in interviews. If the coach fancies me, he fancies me. If not, then not. I’m not angry with anyone. Every coach has their own idea."

"Klopp's arrival may have helped too. Janelt hopes the Germany coach's years of work at Liverpool FC and in England are "probably good for me". "I’m very happy to be here now at the age of 28. This is one of my last chances to be involved in one big tournament or another."

With the double-pivot pairing of Joshua Kimmich and Felix Nmecha not exactly covering themselves in glory in the first two matches under Klopp, and Germany lacking a genuine holding midfielder who is strong both on the ball and in the tackle, Janelt could well get his first chance to prove himself in Munich. Ten years after the scandal in Shkodra, it would be a fitting reward for a rocky and unusual career path.

Vitaly Janelt: the statistics from his professional career