Borrusia Dortmund are flying high going into the Christmas break despite their recent loss to FC Koln. They sit comfortably in the second spot, only behind the imperious Bayern Munich and six points ahead of third-placed Hertha Berlin. While they have performed admirably as a unit under Thomas Tuchel, young midfielder Julian Weigl has been an instant success since his move from 1860 Munich this season.
Background
Weigl was born in the German town of Bad Aibling on 8 September 1995. He started his footballing journey at 1860 Munich in the Bundesliga 2 making his debut against Ingolstadt in February 2014, replacing Yannick Stark in the 67th minute in the 2-0 defeat.
He featured on 14 occasions in the first season and followed it up with another 26 appearances in the following season. The lanky youngster who has been moulded into the deep-lying midfielder’s role can also play as a central midfielder.
Strengths
Weigl has been a calm and composed presence in the Dortmund midfield and has shown immense maturity for a 20-year-old playing in the topmost division for the very first time. He has shown an impeccable passing ability over the course of the season and averages a passing accuracy of 92% – the highest for any Dortmund player in the Bundesliga as well as the Europa League – displaying an interesting range of passing from the deep-lying role.
While he finds his teammates with ease, the opposition have also found it tough to dislodge the ball off the feet of the German. He has been dispossessed a mere 12 times in the league and Europa League, bringing some much-needed calm to the midfield of a top side competing in the Bundesliga. One of the indicators of a player’s abilities is his ability to work in constrained time and space and Weigl has shown that he can create both when the situation demands it.
Played in a deeper role by Tuchel, the young German has had to sweep out any threats presented by opposition time and again. He averages close to 2 successful tackles per 90 minutes. His positioning sense more often than not defies his young age and requires him to be relatively less combative in the midfield in terms of flying into last ditch tackles. Another aspect of his game that amazed us was his ability to read the game. He reads the game like a 30-year-old, often breaking play with critical interceptions and harmless fouls.
While he has recorded no assist or goal this season, the midfielder has created a few goalscoring opportunities for his teammates. His ability to carry the ball out of the defence adds to the attacking impetus of Dortmund. While the club does not have a dearth of goalscorers, Weigl will be hoping to develop his attacking arch to become indispensable to this side going forward.
Weakness
The biggest concern surrounding the midfielder is his mentality. He was in the news when his former club 1860 Munich suspended him for disciplinary issues along with a number of teammates. He will need to put those behind him to ensure there are no pit stops in his flying career.
Another issue cited by many is that he is trying too hard to impress the footballing fraternity by trying extraordinary. The burden of growing up to be the best in the world can get to the heads of many and peg them down.
"You can see every day that things are moving forward, that he enjoys it so much, which is why we play him so often.
“Julian has made a very good impression the whole time he's been here. He is thrilling us with his briskness and carefree attitude. At the same time, he displays the ability to learn and to soak things up. He is a totally clear, cordial and open young man.” – Thomas Tuchel
The youngster was named captain of his side in his first game of the 2014/15 season against Kaiserslautern and has since moved from strength to strength, making a move to Dortmund and landing a place in the starting eleven ahead of the likes of Sven Bender and Gonzalo Castro. At the national level, he has been a part of the U-19, U-20 and U-21 setup for Germany and should he continue to grow like he has over the last couple of years, a senior cap is not too far away.
Weigl is bound to Dortmund until the end of 2019 season and he will be looking to make the heart of their midfield his territory for some time to come.
