Baum’s Journey: From Tanzania to Bundesliga Star
She was four when her world shifted for the first time.
Born in Tanzania to a German father and a Tanzanian mother, Baum moved with her family to Germany as a small child. The football was already there. So was Dennis, her older brother, the one she chased around with a ball at her feet, the one who lit the spark.
He never saw what it would become. Dennis died in a car accident at 17. Baum carries him with her now in the only way she knows how: his initials on her boots, tape on her wrist with his name and a quote. Every game, every sprint, every duel.
"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 HSV
Germany meant a new life and new pitches. Baum began at local side MTV Ahrensbok, the kind of club where talent stands out quickly. From there she moved to TSV Pansdorf, the only girl in the team, sharpening her instincts against boys who didn’t go easy on her.
Hamburg noticed. HSV brought her into their youth academy as a teenager, and by August 2022, when most 15-year-olds are still juggling schoolwork and youth-team fixtures, Baum signed a first-team contract. The deal tied her to Hamburg until 2025 and underlined how highly the club rated her.
She would not see that contract out. By the time it expired, she had already outgrown her surroundings.
What she left behind, though, was significant. In three seasons she helped drag HSV back towards the elite. Promotion to the second tier came first. Then, in the same campaign that sealed a return to the Frauen-Bundesliga for the first time since 2012, Baum also helped Hamburg reach the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal. For a teenager, these were not supporting minutes. She was central to the story.
A fast track through Germany’s youth ranks
While she climbed the club ladder, the national team pathway opened up at the same speed.
She played for Germany’s Under-16s at 14. By 15 she was already with the U17s. At 17 she featured in all five matches as Germany reached the quarter-finals of the U20 World Cup. Now 19, she has become a regular presence with the U23s.
The pattern is clear: every time the bar rises, Baum meets it, then looks for the next one.
Choosing Leipzig over Bayern
Last summer, the phone calls multiplied. Bayern Munich, the club she supported as a child, wanted her. So did others. According to kicker, she was one of the most sought-after young forwards in Germany.
She walked away from the romance. No Bayern homecoming. Instead, she chose RB Leipzig on a free transfer when her HSV deal ran out, describing it as "a fresh start" after four years in Hamburg and pointing to Leipzig’s ambition as a key pull.
Leipzig had only just arrived in the Bundesliga in 2023. No glittering cast, no entrenched hierarchy. For a 19-year-old forward, that mattered. It meant minutes. Responsibility. Space to make mistakes and still keep her place.
It played out exactly like that. Only three players in the squad logged more league minutes than Baum last season.
A breakout Bundesliga season
Given that platform, she exploded.
Six goals. Two assists. Joint-top scorer for RB Leipzig in the league. Twenty-three starts in a side that finished 10th in a 14-team Bundesliga.
The numbers tell part of the story. The eye test fills in the rest.
Baum is electric in wide areas. She runs at defenders with an almost stubborn insistence, always looking to drive her team up the pitch as quickly as possible. There is no hesitation, no half-commitment. When she gets the ball, she goes.
Her speed makes that aggression hurt opponents. Her close control and ability to use both feet make her unpredictable. Defenders cannot simply show her inside or outside; she can cut in to shoot or slip into space to cross, and her choices are already sharper than you’d expect from someone with just one top-flight season behind her.
The data backs that up: she finished joint-seventh in the Bundesliga for chances created last season, playing for a team that finished 10th. That is not a player living off scraps. That is a winger dictating attacks.
Arsenal circle as Europe’s giants take note
A season like that does not stay under the radar.
Bayern have returned to the table. Barcelona, reigning European champions and a team Baum has openly said she enjoys watching, are interested. Lyon, beaten by Barca in last month’s Champions League final, are in the mix as well. Manchester United and London City have also registered their interest, attracted by the prospect of building around her with heavy minutes.
Yet the strongest pull, for now, comes from north London. Bild reports that Arsenal are leading the race for her signature.
The Gunners have said goodbye to a raft of players this summer. Among the most significant departures is England international Beth Mead, who has joined Manchester City. That exit leaves head coach Renee Slegers short of wide options. In Baum, Slegers appears to see the perfect profile: direct, fearless, hardworking, and still at an age where her ceiling remains unknown.
A winger built for modern football
What jumps out when you watch Baum is her intent.
She does not receive the ball to recycle it. She receives it to hurt you. Her first thought is forward, her body shape screams aggression, and she rarely turns down the chance to attack a defender one-v-one.
Her pace stretches backlines. Her technique lets her slalom out of tight spaces. The two-footedness is a nightmare for full-backs; show her inside and she can whip a shot or a disguised pass, force her wide and she can still deliver with quality.
There is an end product to match the style. Baum strikes the ball superbly from distance, especially with her left foot, and reads the game well enough to time late bursts into scoring areas. Off the ball, she brings energy and honesty. She presses with conviction, covers ground, and works for the team.
That mentality tallies with how her coaches describe her. Marwin Bolz, who worked with her at Hamburg, called her "determined to improve," highlighting not just her technical development but also her commitment to physical conditioning and mental toughness.
Raw edges that time can polish
She is 19. Of course there are flaws.
Her pressing, while enthusiastic, still needs refinement. Knowing when to jump, when to screen, when to hold the line—those nuances will come with high-level coaching and repetition.
The same goes for her decision-making in possession. Baum loves to be direct, to attack space and defenders. Learning when to slow the tempo, when to help build more patiently, will be crucial at a club that dominates the ball. Given her passing ability, it is a natural next step rather than a reinvention.
There are moments when she drifts out of games, as many young forwards do. Adapting to the physical demands of the elite level is another ongoing process. One Bundesliga season is not a lot of time to build that consistency.
None of these issues look structural. They look like experience problems, not talent problems.
Echoes of Kerolin and Paralluelo
Watch Baum for a few games and certain comparisons start to form.
Her close control, the sharp changes of direction, the relentless urge to drive at defenders—there is a touch of Kerolin, the Manchester City star, about her game. Like the Brazilian, Baum can operate across the front line and, wherever she plays, she tries to make things happen, either for herself or for teammates.
When she cuts inside and unleashes from range, there are shades of Salma Paralluelo. The Barcelona forward showcased that weapon in the Champions League final, scoring a stunning third goal before adding a fourth. Baum leans more towards the classic winger profile than Paralluelo, who has often been used as a centre-forward, but that same inside-cut-and-strike pattern is becoming a growing part of her arsenal.
The difference? At 19, Baum still has room to add more physical presence to that technical base. Slightly taller than Kerolin, she could develop into a more imposing wide forward as she matures.
Is Arsenal the right next step?
This is where the decision becomes delicate.
Arsenal have not always been a smooth pathway for young signings. Talents like Kathrine Kuhl, Rosa Kafaji and Gio Queiroz arrived with promise but struggled to establish themselves in the first team. For a player with only one Bundesliga season behind her, that history would once have been a red flag.
There are signs of a shift. Smilla Holmberg’s progress this season suggests that under Slegers, who only took the job on a permanent basis in January last year, the integration of young players is being handled with more care.
From a footballing standpoint, the fit makes sense. Slegers rotates her wingers heavily, both between matches and within them, often making changes around the hour mark. That approach could offer Baum gradual exposure to the Women’s Super League rather than throwing her straight into the deep end every week. It also allows Slegers to tailor her wide players to specific opponents, which suits a versatile forward like Baum.
Yet Arsenal is not the only compelling option. Barcelona, Lyon and Bayern all boast strong records with young talent and can offer the lure of regular trophies. Manchester United and London City could put more guaranteed minutes on the table from day one.
Game time, development environment, pressure, trophies—the trade-offs are clear. The choice is anything but simple.
A grounded star in the making
For now, the decision sits with Baum and those closest to her. It is the biggest call of her career so far, but nothing about her suggests she will be rushed or dazzled.
"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 the same interview, she dismissed the idea of next summer’s senior World Cup as an immediate target, instead pointing to the home European Championship in 2029 as a more realistic aim.
That long view, that refusal to chase the quickest route to the spotlight, might be her most valuable quality of all.
One season in the Bundesliga has been enough to put Europe’s giants on alert. The next contract she signs will shape the player she becomes. The only real question now is where she chooses to write the next chapter of a career that already feels destined for the very top.
