Maximilian Entrup

Maximilian Entrup spent most of his career well below Austria's top flight before forcing his way into it at 26. He worked through the amateur and lower-league circuit — Lafnitz, Traiskirchen, Marchfeld Donauauen — and it was only a free transfer to TSV Hartberg that changed his trajectory: 12 goals in 24 appearances there was enough to persuade LASK Linz to pay €1.3 million for him.

The move to LASK gave him a first sustained run in Austria's Bundesliga, and the form he carried from Hartberg brought a call-up to the national team. He scored on his mark against Turkey in a friendly and was named in Austria's squad for Euro 2024, a rapid turnaround for a player who had been playing regional football only a couple of seasons earlier.

His path to that point ran through Vienna's youth system, starting at SV Großebersdorf and passing through First Vienna and FK Austria Wien before he joined Floridsdorfer AC and, from there, Rapid Wien. A loan to SKN St. Pölten was followed by a drop out of the top divisions altogether, the years at Lafnitz, Traiskirchen and Marchfeld Donauauen that most late bloomers need before a club takes a chance on them again.

Entrup left LASK for Eintracht Braunschweig in Germany's 2. Bundesliga, switching to a new shirt number in the process. The €200,000 fee was modest by comparison with what LASK had paid for him, but it marked another step for a forward whose career has been built on climbing rather than arriving fully formed.