Five Potential Stars for 2015-16 - Bundesliga
Five potential stars for the 2015/2016 season – Bundesliga
With the new season being underway for a few weeks already there have been several players looking set to have a great season and some I think will have an impressive season. Today we’re looking at five players that will potentially have a standout season for their respective clubs in the Bundesliga.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund):
It’s early into the season but Mkhitaryan has already shown plenty of good things for Dortmund. The tables have turned for the Armenian under the new manager Thomas Tuchel. The first two season were a massive disappointment for the Armenian and his club BVB. In 2013, he arrived for a club record fee of €26m from Shakthar Donetsk but has never lived up to his reputation nor his fee.
Henrikh was supposed to be an incredible finisher playing behind the striker but we’ve seen the opposite of Mkhitaryan the first two seasons. In his last season at the Ukrainian club he scored 25 goals and assisted a further 10 goals in the league alone and had broken several records. Up until this preseason, Mkhitaryan didn’t show much of that but luckily kept working and is now getting the benefit of it. Since Tuchel has taken over, Mkhitaryan has featured in every game and has looked like a completely different player.
‘Miki’, his nickname, was impressive in all the preseason friendlies but especially in the EL qualifiers against the Wolfsberger AC and Odds BK where he’s scored five goals and four assists in four games. In the three Bundesliga matches he’s scored two goals and also assisting two. Under Tuchel he’s playing on both wings with the attack consistently rotating their positions on field. Third time’s a charm for the Armenian? I think so.
Wendell (Bayer 04 Leverkusen):
Alaba and Rodriguez are the competition for being Bundesliga’s best left-back for the Brazilian. I feel as if he doesn’t get the credit he deserves, as many people have jumped on the Baba hype last season but Wendell isn’t much worse. Leverkusen have been spot on with their scouting in Brazil in the past with the signings of Lucío, Zé Robérto and Juan. Same applies for Wendell, who was signed in 2014 for a fee around €6.5m. Back up Boenisch had no chance against the 22 year old Brazilian who featured in 34 games for Leverkusen last season.
It took little time for him to fit in and become a vital part of Leverkusen’s defense which had a bit of a rough start under new manager Roger Schmidt who is a fan of extreme pressing and quick counter attacks. This led to the defense being exposed without any support from the midfield and Leverkusen conceding a fair few goals at the beginning. As the season went on it got better and saw Bayer 04 finished 4th. Wendell being a consistent performer for Schmidt’s side.
Baba had a good year at Augsburg and was transferred for €20m to Premier League champions Chelsea FC. If Wendell continues to develop as he did last season, the Brazilian will be the next left-back featuring on the wishlist of Europe’s elite clubs and push for a spot in Brazil’s national team. He’s still only 22 years old, so Leverkusen are in for one hell of a future with the likes of Wendell, Calhanoglu, Brandt and other promising youngsters. The Brazilian full back will be a leading performer in his team challenging Alaba and Rodriguez for the spot in Bundesliga’s team of the season.
Douglas Costa (FC Bayern München):
Bayern were in desperate need of a new winger to replace the injury prone Ribéry and Robben. While the latter probably had his best season in a Bayern shirt last year, he still got injured and Guardiola was forced to play Götze out wide every game where the German just can’t shine as he’s too slow and just looking uncomfortable on the wing.
That’s when FC Bayern München were rumoured to sign Douglas Costa, a fast player with good skills in 1 on 1 situations who can play on both wings without neglecting defensive duties. Something Lucescu has taught every Brazilian he has coached at Shakthar. He arrived with a massive fee on his shoulders, this being €30m but Costa has immediately shown his potential worth to the Bavarian side. Toying with nearly every fullback he’s faced in preseason friendlies but also being one of Bayern’s best players in their first three Bundesliga games where Costa picked up a goal and three assists.
Most didn’t know what to expect from him as the Ukrainian league isn’t featured on any channels in central Europe and it’s hard to judge a player based on 3 or 4 Champions League games. Douglas quickly convinced fans and journalists as another great purchase by Bayern. Vierinha stated he’s never faced a faster player on the first few yards. There’s not going to be many fullbacks in the Bundesliga or Champions League looking forward to play against the lightning quick Brazilian.
Jonas Hector (1. FC Köln):
Most people would say Jonas Hector had a rather late start to his professional football career. With 20 years he joined the U21’s of 1. FC Köln. In 2012, Holger Stanislawski has brought Hector into the first team where he immediately convinced the manager and featured in 24 matches in 2. Bundesliga. The club just missed out on a potential playoff match which could’ve taken them up to the 1. Bundesliga. Two young players stood out throughout the campaign, talented goalkeeper Timo Horn and left-back Jonas Hector.
With the youngster hype getting crazier every year, some would say he had a slow start to his career with Tielemans, Brandt, Odegaard etc. making their debuts with 17, respectively 16. Luckily Hector has improved massively over the last 3 years and has earned himself a call up to the national team. The Köln defender’s displays for the German national team have been impressive thus far. The left back position has been a worry for many years. Höwedes, Badstuber or Schmelzer have played there due to the lack of quality on the left flank or have simply not been good enough.
Hector will continue his development this season with 1. FC Köln and has not shown signs of slowing down so far. Playing all three Bundesliga games over the whole 270 minutes and contributing one assist. Köln are currently sitting in the 4th spot in Bundesliga. Stöger and his team look much better going forward but also seem to be conceding more goals. It’s only the early stages of the league but they’re looking good. Hector will be an important player once more and it would probably be a difficult task to keep hold of the German international.
Josuha Guilavogui (VfL Wolfsburg):
The French centre defensive midfielder has come through Saint-Etienne’s youth ranks making his Ligue 1 debut at the age of 19 in 2010 against FC Sochaux but has only played a total of 128 minutes that season. In 2012, Guilavogui was the anchor in midfield for the French side and in the following season he was about to have his breakout season with the team finishing 5th. His outstanding performances were rewarded with a call up to the national team and a big move to Atletico Madrid a few months later.
Until January he had only featured in 6 games for Atleti and was therefore loaned back to Saint Etienne to gain further match experience. The midfielder helped ‘Les Vets’ to accomplish their best run in Ligue 1 in the last 10 years, finishing 4th behind PSG, Monaco and LOSC Lille before returning to the Spanish capital. In preseason it was very clear that Guilavogui’s situation at Diego Simeone’s side hasn’t changed, it probably got worse due to the flourishing of Saul and continued great displays of Gabi and Tiago. However, interest from European clubs was strong and at the beginning of August 2014, Wolfsburg secured his services with a 2 year loan with an option to buy.
The Wolves haven’t looked back since, the aggressive midfielder featured in 42 games last year and director Klaus Allofs has repeatedly confirmed the strong intent of keeping Guilavogui at the club longer than 2016. Guilavogui forms an oustanding partnership with the Brazilian Luiz Gustavo, staying back and letting the Brazilian move forward if necessary. In the first games this season, the French midfielder has shown no signs of slowing down. Josuha will do just that this season and will try his best at Wolfsburg with the Euros coming up next year.
Next up is Sam with the Barclays Premier League!
