Vitaly Janelt: How to epitomise a football club

Vitaly Janelt is Brentford’s forgetful superstar. For if you tune into a Bees game, you’ll hardly notice him. What he does on the pitch does little to arrest your attention, but those who watch closely, those who have been studying Bretford for a number of years, will know all too well just how important the German midfielder is to this side.

His teammates know, his coaches know it too. For all the shrewd and commendable signings Brentford make to bolster their midfield options, it’s he who is the evergreen constant right at the heart of it all. He’s an energetic, hard-working and powerfully built midfielder with consistent quality on the ball and the ability to anticipate danger off it.

He’s the one doing the hard yards so his teammates can shine and get those big moves. But without him, Brentford aren’t Brentford.

6 years, 236 games, 16 goals.

Janelt is 28 now and exemplifies everything good that Brentford do and are, but he once was…

Eight years old, growing up in the Bargfeld-Stegen district which sits just north of the City of Hamburg. He learnt everything revolving around football through his three older brothers: Vincent, Victor and Vitus with all but the latter becoming professional players at various levels.

Fourteen when his stock in Germany began to gradually grow. For the past few years, he and his brothers had been part of Hamburg’s youth setup, which they joined after stints at local sides Bargfelder SV and SSC Hagen Ahrensburg. By this point, Vitaly was known as the most talented of the quartet but what gripped coaches to him was the intangible qualities he possessed. “Back then, from u14 to u16s, he impressed me with his game intelligence, tough duels and attitude of always wanting to win. Vitaly was always a special player,” raved Hamburg youth coach Daniel Petrowsky to VAVEL.

Vitaly was receiving national recognition through the fact he was being called up to Germany’s youth teams at both U15s and U17s level where he played with the likes of Yann Bisseck and Jonathan Burkardt. He was known as a versatile midfielder who could operate as a box-to-box player or slightly deeper and his consistently quality showings began to attract the attention of Germany’s most ambitious clubs.

Sixteen at the point where RB Leipzig swooped in for his signature. This was the summer of 2014, where the Red Bull project was beginning to gather serious momentum and the club had just earned promotion to 2. Bundesliga. Their strategy of investing heavily in youth players had already given them Yussuf Poulsen and Joshua Kimmich and for the €150,000 they paid for Janelt, there was hope his career would take shape in a similar vein. But Janelt never once broke into the first-team squad.

Eighteen years of age when everything Janelt had worked so hard for, showed glimpses of unraveling. Away with Germany u19’s in Albania, Janelt and a fellow teammate were found with a shisha pipe which had led to a small fire in their hotel room. They were made an example of. Head coach Frank Kramer and Leipzig sporting director Ralf Ragnick suspended them promptly from the academy, leaving them unable to access any of the training facilities. For Janelt, this would signify the end of the line for his time in the Red Bull contingent.

A few months later, Janelt found himself starting again at 2. Bundesliga side VFL Bochum. The move was an 18 month loan from Leipzig with an option to buy and the initial plan was to send the German midfielder to the reserves and go from there. But his talent beckoned other ideas. Janelt’s qualities were too obvious to keep him hunkered down in the second-string team and he quickly became a first-team fixture, playing a number of games in the 2016/17 season before having his season ended in March by a knee injury.

The 2017/18 season would’ve been a frustrating one for Vitaly personally. Upon returning from the sidelines, he was welcomed by a revolving door of head coaches who all had their own ideas, none of which seemed to involve the now 19 year old. He made two starts and made 13 appearances with more niggling injuries also keeping him out, but Bochum had still seen enough in these brief cameos to sign him permanently. Sporting director Sebastian Schindzielorz referred to Janellt as “one of the great talents of his age group” which was a strange thing to say about a midfielder who was making intermittent appearances for a side floating in the middle-table purgatory of Germany’s second tier.

Twenty-Two. The age Janelt was when Brentford signed him on the final day of the 2020/21 transfer window after 4 steady years in Germany. Perhaps it was Janelt’s versatility and diligence, perhaps they saw what Schindzielorz did, but Brentford, clairvoyant as ever, were ahead of the curve.

Janelt was originally brought in as the understudy to Danish midfielder Christian Norgaard however when Norgaard went down injured early on into the campaign, he was entrusted to fill his void. On a cold and grey night in south Yorkshire, away to Sheffield Wednesday in an empty Covid-stricken stadium, Janelt whipped in a delicious corner right onto the head of Ivan Toney who steered the ball into the back of the net. It was Janelt’s first goal contribution in his first competitive start for the Bees and in a 2-1 win, it marked the beginning of a new era for the midfielder.

Since this game, Janelt has been a stalwart of this Brentford side. Coaches were said to be immediately impressed by his anticipation and vision and he was quickly taken into the hearts of the Brentford faithful after his deflected effort against Bournemouth in the Championship playoff semi-final sent the West Londoners on their way to their first ever promotion to the Premier League.

Twenty eight now is Vitaly Janelt and he’s still as important as ever. Five years ago, Thomas Frank proclaimed to The Athletic, “When you don’t play him, you find out what you’re missing. You can trust him instantly and he always performs to a certain level.” Keith Andrews echoed a similar sentiment earlier on in the season by calling him the “glue” to their whole operation on the pitch.

Now he is playing with the confidence of a player who just made their first appearance for their national team back in early October. His brilliant performances at the beginning of this campaign led Jurgen Klopp to include him in his first squad, in a way fulfilling Schindzielorz’s prophecy.

The German international has been formidable so far this season with the partnership between him and newest Brentford sensation Mamadou Sangare already seeming to bear fruit. “Individual quality can be bought, mentality and togetherness cannot,” he explained in an interview with Goal and if there was ever a sentence that could perfectly sum someone up.

Janelt is the ultimate team player and though his game is quick to go unnoticed, he’s been a dependable and imperative cog of this plucky Brentford team for years now as they’ve climbed and climbed up the Premier League table. When so many other players now have been moved on, the prospect of parting with Vitaly seems inconceivable. He stays, in the middle of the pitch, mobbing up loose balls, putting out fires and springing attacks with astute and simple passes.

On saturday, I was sat maximum 30 yards away from Janelt as (with many thanks to BCOMS) I was privileged enough to attend their game against Nottingham Forest. From the first minute, it became obvious to me that neither Keith Andrews or Thomas Frank were speaking in hyperbole when they rhapsodised over Janelt’s ability and importance, as a supportive coach might do, they were dead on.

Unfortunately it took me watching Janelt and Brentford in the flesh to finally come to terms with just how good he was, but you see it, you can’t unsee it. Janelt was everywhere he needed to be on that pitch, doing everything a defensive midfielder needs to do.

Without the ball, he’d throw himself into challenges he had no right to win; move feverishly time and time again to close down his opponent and consequently find himself acting as a striker or left-winger and just always be there to break up play. His energy is so infectious, it’s almost as if he’s the one setting the tone for the rest of the side to feed off with his consistent high-speed sprints and duelling.

He’s obviously one of the leaders of this Brentford side, always talking and gesturing, always looking over to Keith Andrews, acting as the medium between his manager and his teammates. On the ball, he never looked uncomfortable or close to being dispossessed. Just as much as he was putting out fires against Forest, he was starting attacks with some clever quick passes through the lines or a one-two away from his marker.

After watching Janelt and Brentford in the flesh for the first time I came away with the conclusion that no player better epitomises who they are as a club, better than the German midfielder. A shrewd buy from a niche market when barely anyone in England had heard of him, consistently excelling on the pitch both physically and technically and never impudent in the way he conducts himself. A ridiculously hard-working and unselfish team player that any club in England would bite your hand off for and another example that talent truly lies everywhere.