Baum's Journey: From Tanzania to Arsenal's Next Star

She was four years old when her life changed for the first time.

Born in Tanzania to a German father and a Tanzanian mother, Baum left East Africa for northern Germany with a ball already at her feet and a shadow already in her life. Her older brother Dennis – the one who first dragged her into kickabouts, the one she chased around parks and pitches – died in a car accident at 17.

She carries him with her now. His initials are on her boots. Tape on her wrist bears his name and a quote. Every game is a quiet ritual. “That way, he's always with me,” she told Die Welt. “I wish he was here and could see everything I do.”

From village pitches to Hamburg’s first team

Germany meant new surroundings but the same obsession. Baum joined local side MTV Ahrensbok, then moved to TSV Pansdorf, where she was the only girl in the team and learned quickly that you either compete or you disappear. Pansdorf soon shared her with Hamburg. HSV saw enough in the teenager to bring her into their academy and, by August 2022, to hand her a first-team contract at just 15, tying her down until 2025.

Those three years changed Hamburg’s trajectory – and hers.

With Baum in the squad, HSV climbed back up the ladder. Her first season brought promotion to the second tier. The next step was even bigger: Hamburg reached the Frauen-Bundesliga for the first time since 2012 and also surged to the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal in the same campaign. For a club rebuilding its identity, the fearless teenager on the wing became a symbol of the revival.

At the end of her deal, though, she walked away on a free. RB Leipzig, newly promoted and ambitious, offered something Hamburg could not: a fresh canvas in the top flight.

A teenager who skipped age groups

Her rise with Germany’s national teams ran in parallel, only faster. Baum played for the Under-16s at 14. She stepped into the U17s at 15. At 17, she featured in all five games as Germany reached the quarter-finals of the U20 World Cup.

Now 19, she has been a regular with the U23s, often playing above her age group, always looking like she belonged there.

Clubs noticed. Big ones.

Last summer, Bayern Munich – her childhood club – showed interest, according to kicker. So did others. Baum turned to Leipzig instead, talking about the need for “a fresh start” after four years in Hamburg and pointing to RB’s ambition as a key pull.

It was a calculated decision. Leipzig, promoted to the Bundesliga only in 2023, are still feeling their way into the division, not stacked with established stars. Baum knew minutes were there to be won. She took them.

Only three players in the squad logged more league minutes than her last season.

A breakout year in Leipzig

Given the platform, she delivered.

Baum finished as RB Leipzig’s joint-top scorer in the league, with six goals and two assists from 23 starts. In a 14-team Bundesliga, Leipzig ended the season in 10th, but the teenager’s wide play cut through that mid-table anonymity. She ran at full-backs, twisted away from double teams, and turned defensive lines with a directness that became her calling card.

She also ranked joint-seventh for chances created in the league. Doing that in a side that finished 10th says plenty about her vision and decision-making, even if that part of her game is still maturing.

Her performances sparked the inevitable: transfer links, and lots of them.

Bayern came back into the picture. Barcelona, the reigning European champions and a team she has openly said she enjoys watching, are interested. So are Manchester United, London City and Lyon, beaten by Barca in last month’s Champions League final.

Yet, according to Bild, it is Arsenal who currently sit at the front of the queue.

Arsenal’s wide rebuild – and a perfect profile

North London is in flux out wide. Arsenal have said goodbye to several players in recent weeks, with England international Beth Mead’s move to Manchester City the headline departure. Head coach Renee Slegers needs new weapons on the flanks. In Baum, she appears to have found a profile that fits her blueprint.

Watch Baum for five minutes and one thing jumps out: she goes straight for you.

She wants to drive forward as soon as she receives the ball, wants to turn defenders, wants to carry her team up the pitch. There’s no hesitation, no safe sideways touch to buy time. Her speed amplifies that intent. So does her close control and the fact she is genuinely two-footed. That makes her unpredictable in one-on-one situations; full-backs cannot simply show her onto a “weaker” side.

She can cut in and shoot, or dart outside and whip in a cross. For a 19-year-old, her choices in the final third are already more often right than wrong. They will improve with experience, but the foundation is there.

She carries a real goal threat as well. Her left foot, in particular, can explode from distance, and she reads space well enough to arrive in scoring positions at the right moment. Off the ball, she works. She presses aggressively, covers ground, and brings energy that coaches crave in modern forwards.

That relentlessness mirrors how those around her describe her personality. Marwin Bolz, her coach at Hamburg, called her “determined to improve… not just in terms of her soccer skills, but also in her physical conditioning and mental toughness,” in an interview with the Hamburger Morgenpost.

Strengths, flaws – and room to grow

She is not the finished article. Far from it. That is precisely what makes her so intriguing.

Her pressing, while enthusiastic, still needs refining. Learning when to jump, when to hold, and how to press as part of a coordinated unit will come with higher-level coaching and more time in elite systems.

The same goes for her decision on when to go for the jugular and when to slow the game, recycle possession and help build more patiently. At Leipzig, still finding their place in the Bundesliga and often leaning on transitions, the temptation to attack every moment is understandable. At a dominant club, she will need to vary the tempo more.

She can also drift out of games. That inconsistency is normal for a young winger, particularly one in her first top-flight season. As she adjusts to the physical demands and intensity of elite football, her influence should stretch beyond flashes into full 90-minute performances.

Crucially, none of her weaknesses look fixed. They look coachable.

Echoes of Kerolin and Paralluelo

If you search for comparisons, two names surface.

There is something of Kerolin, the Manchester City star, in Baum’s game: the tight close control, the willingness to take defenders on from any attacking position, the sense that every touch is an invitation to commit someone. Like the Brazilian, Baum can operate across the front line and always looks to make things happen, whether for herself or for teammates. At slightly taller, she has the potential to become more physically imposing as she fills out.

Then there are shades of Salma Paralluelo when Baum darts inside and unleashes from range. Paralluelo showcased that weapon in the Champions League final, scoring a stunning third for Barcelona before adding a fourth. Baum is starting to lean on that same inside-cut-and-strike pattern, though she retains more of the classic wide-player traits, while Paralluelo has often been used centrally.

These are not claims that she is already at their level. They are signposts of what her game could grow into.

The Arsenal question – and the alternatives

Given she has just one Bundesliga season behind her, the next move will define the rhythm of her career.

Arsenal, the reported frontrunners, would once have raised red flags for a player like Baum. The club has signed several young talents in recent years – Kathrine Kuhl, Rosa Kafaji, Gio Queiroz among them – and struggled to give them a clear pathway into the first team.

Smilla Holmberg’s emergence this season hints at a shift. Slegers, appointed on a permanent basis in January last year, has shown a willingness to trust and develop youth more consistently.

Tactically, the fit makes sense. Slegers frequently rotates her wide players, both between matches and within them, often changing her wingers around the hour mark. That kind of managed exposure could suit Baum perfectly: regular minutes without the pressure of carrying the attack from day one, and the chance to tailor her role to specific opponents.

But nothing is agreed. Barcelona, Lyon and Bayern all loom in the background, each with a strong record of nurturing young talent. London City and Manchester United might offer something different: the promise of even more immediate, guaranteed game time.

The choice sits with Baum and the small circle around her. It is a career-defining fork in the road, but those who know her talk about a level head and a long view.

“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. She brushed aside talk of next summer’s senior World Cup as a target, instead pointing to the home European Championship in 2029.

A teenager who plays without fear, thinks in long cycles and runs with her brother’s name on her wrist. Wherever she lands next, how far can that combination take her?