Julian Brandt is currently in improving form at Borussia Dortmund. Nevertheless, the sporting future of the offensive player at BVB is uncertain – the performances in the past were too inconsistent. Consequently, the Westphalians are faced with a difficult decision.
“We have brands”. With these pithy words, Borussia Dortmund introduced Julian Brandt as a new signing in the summer of 2019. With the commitment of the German national player, BVB celebrated a transfer coup at the time – actually. Because in the past three years, the attacking midfielder, who came from Bayer Leverkusen, has simply not been consistent enough.
The “Brandt” of the black and yellow was not sufficiently quenched, the transfer fee of around 25 million euros thus became an expensive thirst quencher.
Consequently, the 25-year-old has been a candidate for departure at BVB for some time. But in the last few encounters, Brandt suddenly became a key player. The native of Bremen scored both goals in the 2-0 win at VfB Stuttgart. About a week later, Brandt prepared two goals in the 6-1 thrashing of VfL Wolfsburg and earned the sport.de rating of 1.0.
“What I was accused of in the last year or two was missing scorer points. That’s what I’m sticking to – I want to keep getting countable,” the midfielder was then quoted as saying by the “Ruhr Nachrichten”.
Brandt at BVB with too many outliers down
After “Bild” recently reported that Brandt at BVB, like Nico Schulz and Emre Can, was threatened with “forced farewell”, the Dortmund club bosses could rethink the recent upward trend.
Since the Revierklub would probably not get anywhere near the 25 million euros they had invested in the summer, there is a possibility that BVB will go into another season with Brandt. To do this, the third-best scorer in the squad urgently needs to minimize his outliers.
Brandt’s problems were particularly noticeable on the international stage. So this season he was not able to score in either the Champions League or the Europa League. In the two duels with Rangers from Glasgow, the creative player seemed listless at times and also had problems with the opponent’s physical gait.
“There was a phase in which he lacked biliousness,” head coach Marco Rose told the “Ruhr Nachrichten”. Brandt “invested too little in the duels”. At other moments, the midfielder could ‘wake up the stadium with a back heel’.
BVB has to make a difficult decision
It is these fluctuations between carelessness and genius that make Brandt difficult to grasp – and force BVB to make a tricky decision. Dortmund must clarify the question of whether Brandt should be retained or whether the collaboration will end in the summer after three years together.
If Brandt stays, BVB risks further total failures of the 37-time national player. If there is a sale, the Bundesliga club faces a big loss. “Bild” recently brought a transfer fee of around 15 million euros into play.
Trainer Rose recently stood in front of his protégé. “I think Jule is playing a very decent season overall,” said the 45-year-old to “Ruhr Nachrichten”. However, this sentence is by no means a guarantee for continued employment.
Rather, Brandt has to prove by the end of the season that his performances against VfB Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg were more than a flash in the pan. If this succeeds, his journey in Dortmund could continue – and the “Brandt” of BVB could finally be satisfied.
Jannik Kube