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Preferred Positions
Last 24 months · all competitions
CDM
Defensive midfieldMain
3,376 min · 54 apps · 36 starts
CM
Central midfield
857 min · 11 apps · 11 starts
Squad importance
Current squad importance over the club’s last 40 recorded competitive games in this spell, including previous seasons. Starts and minutes contribute 70%; performance contributes 30%. Absences reduce the score gradually, with less weight when a player is outside the matchday squad.Current role at Brentford · independent of the season filter
Important
Involvement73%
Performance47%
Through the match on 17 Oct 2026. Refreshed daily.
Profile
Career & playing style
Vitaly Janelt gives a midfield a link between winning the ball and using it. He can defend in front of the back line, press an opponent higher up, then offer a composed pass when possession changes hands. Thomas Frank valued both sides of that work: Janelt's ability to close space and his willingness to run beyond the ball when an attack opens up.
His route to English football began in Hamburg's youth system and continued at RB Leipzig, where he played for the reserve side. A move to Bochum in January 2017 gave him second-division football, although he later described finding regular minutes difficult there. Brentford saw a player who could operate as a holding midfielder, further forward in a midfield pair, or even on the left of a defence.
Brentford signed him from Bochum in October 2020. An opening in midfield soon gave him a larger role in the Championship side. He started the May 2021 play-off final against Swansea City: one Brentford move in that match began with him helping to turn a regain near his own penalty area into an attack. The 2-0 win took the club into the Premier League.
That range remained useful after promotion. Frank described Janelt as a player who could be a number six or a number eight: a deeper presence when others advanced, but also someone able to arrive in the box. He scored twice in Brentford's 4-1 win at Chelsea in April 2022, an example of how a primarily defensive midfielder could still finish a move high up the pitch.
His adaptability was recognised inside the club in 2023/24, when Brentford's players chose him as their Players' Player of the Season. The club's profile notes that he sometimes played away from defensive midfield that campaign. The award was an individual honour, separate from the promotion achieved by the team three years earlier.
Janelt also has a distinct international timeline. He came on during Germany's 1-0 win over Portugal in the June 2021 European Under-21 Championship final, sharing in a team title. In September 2026 he received his first senior Germany call-up. On 1 October, he entered the Nations League match against Serbia late on for his first senior appearance, a milestone that goes beyond selection alone.