Vitaly Janelt

Vitaly Janelt (born 10 May 1998) is a German professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Brentford.

Janelt is a product of the Hamburger SV and RB Leipzig academies and made his professional breakthrough at VfL Bochum in 2017, before moving to England to join Brentford in 2020. He was capped by Germany at youth level and was a part of the 2021 European U21 Championship-winning squad.

Club career RB Leipzig After beginning his career with spells in the youth systems at Bargfelder SV, SSC Hagen Ahrensburg and Hamburger SV, Janelt joined the academy at RB Leipzig in 2014, for a fee reported to be €150,000. He signed a five-year professional contract in July 2016 and progressed to the reserve team, for which he made six Regionalliga Nordost appearances during the 2016–17 season. He failed to win a call into a first team matchday squad during his time with RB Leipzig. He made 20 appearances during an injury-affected spell and signed a three-year contract with the club on 30 May 2018, He broke into the first team in 2019–20, making 24 appearances during a season which was ended prematurely by the COVID-19 pandemic. Janelt departed VfL Bochum in October 2020 and ended his years at the Ruhrstadion with 54 appearances. In December 2021, Janelt stated that he "struggled to find consistency" during his spell with the club, exacerbated by playing under six different managers. He was frequently deployed as a utility player, filling in as a left winger, left back, central defender and on one occasion,

Brentford 2020–21 season On 3 October 2020, Janelt moved to England to sign a four-year contract with Championship club Brentford for an undisclosed fee of "around" £500,000. Janelt retained his place throughout the campaign and finished Brentford's 2021 EFL Championship play-off final-winning 2020–21 season with 47 appearances and four goals. Janelt continued in his virtual ever-present role and signed a new four-year contract on 1 April 2022. The following day, he scored his third and fourth goals of the season in a 4–1 win over Chelsea and finished the campaign with 35 appearances. Despite airing some concerns about his playing time, Janelt finished the season with 37 appearances (predominantly as a starter) and three goals. Following the loss of first-choice wing-backs Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey due to injury, he deputised at left wing back on an ad-hoc basis. Janelt's performances during the 2023–24 season were recognised with the Brentford Players' Player of the Year award. As a testament to his durability, during the season, Janelt became the first Brentford player to make 100 Premier League appearances.

2024–2026 Despite playing with a heel complaint, Janelt was again a virtual ever-present during the 2024–25 season. After missing the final five matches of the season to undergo surgery on his heel issue, with the option of a further year. Janelt made 30 appearances and scored one goal during the 2025–26 season. He was a part of the Germany squads at the 2015 UEFA European U17 Championship and the 2015 U17 World Cup. Janelt made four appearances during the U21 team's successful 2021 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying campaign. He made four substitute appearances during the team's successful finals campaign. On 25 September 2021, it was reported that German senior head coach Hansi Flick was present at one of Janelt's club matches.

In a bid to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina at senior international level, Janelt was granted Bosnian citizenship on 17 March 2025.

Style of play A defensive midfielder or "number eight", Ines Kovač, born in Sarajevo.

Career statistics

Honours Brentford EFL Championship play-offs: 2021

Germany U21 UEFA European U21 Championship: 2021

Individual Brentford Players' Player of the Year: 2023–24