Mahmoud Dahoud    20    Midfielder    Borussia Mönchengladbach    Germany

Skinny

In a midfield pairing Mahmoud Dahoud likes to be the more adventurous player of the two. His natural game is all about moving forward and it’s because of his natural tendencies to get ahead of the ball that he really needs someone to do the sitting for him. Willingness and happiness to play that high up the field is a habit not often found in modern midfielders. But he should be cherished as he ensures the striker doesn’t end up isolated.

A lovely player on the ball, there is a lot to like about Dahoud going forward and in fairness to him, he does a decent job going in the other direction as well. His engine is second-to-none and he will keep moving to make sure he doesn’t become a statue for opposition teams to play around.

When his team is in possession the Syrian-born midfielder moves seamlessly between the lines of defence, dropping into space; making him a perfect foil to a more disciplined midfielder who can bed in just in front of the defence.

2016 has been…

Having suffered a lengthy injury in his last couple of years working through the Borussia Mönchengladbach youth ranks, Dahoud was able to take the Bundesliga by relative storm last season without much warning. 

He played just twice in the Bundesliga during 2014/15 and thanks to a sluggish start by Gladbach in the league last term, he was given a chance that he duly grabbed with both hands. Andre Schubert promoted Dahoud more abruptly than it appeared Lucien Favre had planned to, and the youngster has cracked on since. 

It will have certainly helped that in Schubert’s first game in charge Gladbach were four goals to the good inside 21 minutes and Dahoud had scored on those. He’s been a regular ever since and is arguably something of an upgrade on the players previously deployed to get forward from deep as it, as we mentioned, suits Dahoud’s natural game.

What’s next?

Given that his contract expires during the summer of 2018, we expect Mahmoud’s future will get sorted out pretty quickly. If Dahoud decides that his future lies away from Borussia Park then the club probably won’t stand his way. They will ensure they sell him soon before allowing his contract to run down.

They have previously done similar with Marc Andre ter Stegen and Marco Reus. We’d expect there won’t be too many hard feelings on either side if Mahmoud does go now; even though they might hope to get another contract and two more seasons from him.

Ultimately for them, the big boys are already interested and if Dahoud can continue to improve he should be ready to join them this summer. He needs to sharpen up the final 10% of his overall game. Everything is just about good, but needs to be better. Developing an efficiency in all the things that does might just be key.

C+    A really fun midfielder