The 'two-metre Messi-Musiala' standing between England and U21 Euro crown

Nick Woltemade has scored six goals in four games for Germany at the European Under-21 Championship

England Under-21s will come up against a tough challenge in the European Championship final when they face Germany - and the tournament's top scorer Nick Woltemade - on Saturday (20:00 BST).

The 23-year-old Stuttgart forward, who is 6ft 6in (1.98m) and recently became a senior international, has scored six goals in four games in Slovakia.

He is being linked to many clubs - in the Premier League and across Europe - after his breakthrough season in the Bundesliga and the interest will only grow after another starring role in Wednesday's semi-final win against France.

Bayern Munich sporting director Christoph Freund has said the striker is an "interesting" player, while Real Madrid are the latest club to be linked to him.

"It wouldn't be optimal scouting if a club didn't have that [his scoring run] on their radar right now," Woltemade recently told Bild of Chelsea links.

"I'm not thinking about my future right now."

Woltemade was even called a "two-metre Messi-Musiala" by club captain Atakan Karazor in an interview in February.

He said: "He can control the ball, but at the same time he can also dribble like a 1.6 metre dribbler. He's a player who is two metres tall but he has technique like Messi."

A summer to remember for Woltemade

Woltemade has enjoyed a few landmark moments in the past month.

On 24 May, he scored in the German Cup final as Stuttgart beat Arminia Bielefeld to win his first trophy.

Then he started both Nations League games for Germany - against Portugal and France - for his first two senior caps.

Now he is playing at the European Under-21 Championship as one of the tournament's oldest players. He netted a hat-trick in the 3-0 win over Slovenia before scoring again, and assisting two, in the 4-2 win over the Czech Republic.

Germany beat England 2-1 in their final Group B match, although, as the Germans had already qualified, boss Antonio di Salvo made 11 changes for that match, with Woltemade remaining an unused substitute.

But he returned with the first goal in Germany's 3-2 quarter-final win over Italy and was again on the scoresheet in the 3-0 victory over France in the semi-final.

He will hope to help his country claim what would be a fourth tournament success when they take on the Young Lions in Bratislava.

Woltemade's good club form - and Premier League links

Nick Woltemade ranked highly last season in many different metrics for Opta

Woltemade started his career with Werder Bremen, coming through their youth teams, but had only scored two goals in 51 games.

He spent the 2022-23 season on loan in the third tier with Elversberg.

But the striker rejected the offer of a new Bremen contract last summer before a free-transfer move to Stuttgart.

His time there started slowly - and he was not named in their Champions League squad - but he has become a prolific goalscorer.

He has bagged 17 goals in 33 games (22 starts) for the Bundesliga side - including in each of his past four matches.

Woltemade was named newcomer of the season by the VDV, the German professional footballers' union, despite having already played 41 Bundesliga games for Bremen.

That form has seen him most strongly linked to Chelsea - but also to Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton, Brighton and West Ham - and some of the continent's top clubs too.

Who else is scoring in the U21 Euros?

Woltemade is on course to win the tournament's golden boot and the only man that can realistically stop him is Liverpool forward Harvey Elliott, who is two behind on four goals after scoring a double in England's 2-1 semi-final win over the Netherlands.

Newcastle's William Osula scored three times for Denmark, Djaoui Cisse netted three goals for France, while Portugal's Geovany Quenda is also on three - which is good news for Chelsea fans as he will join the Blues from Sporting in a £40m move next year.

Woltemade's Germany team-mate Nelson Weiper also has three goals, but he would need to score four times in the final to top the goalscoring charts.