Stefanos Tzimas: Who is Nuremberg's young Greek goal machine on loan from Brighton?
Nuremberg's number nine has secured a transfer to English club Brighton & Hove Albion but will remain with the Bavarians on loan for the remainder of the 2024/25 season. But who exactly is the Greek starlet who has attracted interest from across the continent? bundesliga.com gives you the lowdown...
Data correct as of 3 February 2025
Age: 19 (born 6 Jan 2006)
Club: Nuremberg (on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion)
Position: Striker
Country: Greece (32 youth caps)
Key stats
Tzimas' transfer saga with Nuremberg has been full of twists and turns. Initially joining in the summer of 2024 on loan from Greek parent club PAOK, Tzimas made the switch to Der Club permanent in January 2025 before putting pen to paper for Brighton & Hove Albion at the start of February. However, he won't join up with the English Premier League side just yet, having instead been loaned straight back to the Bundesliga 2 for the remainder of the season.
Born in Thessaloniki in Greece, Tzimas was spotted by local side PAOK as a seven-year-old. There he spent his entire youth, rising through the ranks of the youth and reserve squads before making his first-team debut as a late substitute against PAS Giannini in February 2023. The following game, Tzimas featured again, this time finding the back of the net in a 6-0 victory over Ionikos, at just 17 years of age, becoming PAOK's youngest-ever goalscorer in the process.
Alongside his debut in the 2022/23 season, Tzimas made 19 appearances in all competitions for PAOK's reserve teams, scoring 11 times and recording three assists. This strong form pushed on into 2023/24 as the starlet became a more established part of the first team, earning him 23 appearances over the course of the season, although largely featuring off the bench. Despite this, he managed to grab four goals and an assist, which, considering the 438 minutes of first-team football he played, added up to a goal involvement on average every 88 minutes!
The 2023/24 season also gave Tzimas his first taste of European football as he made two appearances in UEFA Conference League qualifiers and a further two in the competition itself, most notably coming off the bench in PAOK's round of 16 first-leg away defeat against Dinamo Zagreb.
His strong but sporadic 2023/24 season ended with a summer loan move to Nuremberg in Bundesliga 2. There, he has quickly established himself as one of Der Club's hottest talents, scoring 10 goals and assisting twice in 18 games across all competitions. Under the tutelage of legendary Germany striker Miroslav Klose, the Greek has transformed into an absolute goal machine, ending the first half of the 2024/25 season as the Bavarians' top goalscorer.
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Plays a bit like... Benjamin Šeško
Tzimas is a powerful striker whose profile is remarkably similar to Leipzig ace Šeško. Both are tall and good in the air, yet alarmingly quick for their height. Additionally, the teenager possesses the ability to hold the ball up as a target man, but is also very good at running in behind. In one-on-one situations, he's very clinical, and with the ball at his feet he's not afraid of linking-up play to bring his teammates into the game. With a way to go in his development, however, Brighton will be delighted if he can in any way emulate the success Šeško has enjoyed at Leipzig.
Did you know?
Despite making 32 caps for the Greece national team at their various youth levels, scoring 16 goals in the process, Tzimas is yet to receive a full call-up for his country.
Watch: The best of Stefanos Tzimas
What they're saying
"Stefanos is an exceptional young talent, an out-and-out centre-forward with a natural ability to score goals, and we are absolutely delighted to have signed him." - Brighton & Hove Albion manager Fabian Hürzeler
"When we gave Stefanos the number 9 shirt in the summer and said that he wasn't really a Nuremberg player, but rather a cut above, we couldn't have predicted how fantastic his time in Nuremberg would be." - Nuremberg sporting director Olaf Rebbe
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