It won’t be long before Borussia Dortmund officially confirms the departure of Jadon Sancho. The Englishman’s successor at BVB is to be Donyell Malen from PSV Eindhoven.
Who is the 22-year-old Donyell Malen and how would he fit in Dortmund? It is no longer a surprise that Jadon Sancho will leave Borussia Dortmund for Manchester United. Roger Schmidt, coach at PSV Eindhoven, will not fall out of the clouds either if Donyell Malen no longer shows up for training after his vacation after the European Championship.
“After last season it became clear that they wanted to move to another league. That is still my expectation,” he said of Malen and his teammate Denzel Dumfries. Malen has been traded as the successor to Sancho in Dortmund for a long time.
The point of contention still seems to be the transfer fee: Eindhoven allegedly demands well over 30 million euros, BVB does not want to shell out more than 27 million for the striker. PSV has the reins of action in hand because Malen’s contract runs until 2024 – but he just wants to leave.
Dortmund’s new coach Marco Rose said of a transfer: “If you lose Jadon Sancho, we’ll have to look for a fast-paced winger who can go one-on-one. That is certainly a position where we still want to do something. ”
Is painting a suitable candidate for this? How would he fit in with Borussia? And who is the 22-year-old anyway?
Malen made his professional debut for Eindhoven in February 2018, then quickly found his place in the professional team and often appeared in the games as a joker under today’s Wolfsburg coach Mark van Bommel. Van Bommel mostly only used Malen as a substitute in the following season and let him either come over the wings or play as a center forward.
Malen’s numbers: 28 goals and 14 assists in 67 competitive games under van Bommel – it has long been an indispensable part of Eindhoven’s team. Not even under the new coach Roger Schmidt, who took over from van Bommel last year.
That was also the classic Dutch 4-3-3 story that van Bommel played. Schmidt relies on his 4-2-2-2, known from Leverkusen. In this system, Malen was used as a striker, mostly alongside attacker Eran Zahavi.
So it is easily possible to imagine painting in the 4-4-2 at BVB, which Rose is probably favored by, next to Erling Haaland. The son of a Surinamese father and a Dutch mother is a player who also likes to evade to give his strike partner space in the penalty area – so he did it in Eindhoven with Zahavi.
What Malen brings with him in the first place and also makes him the legitimate successor to Sancho is his incredible acceleration over the first few meters. This speed is undoubtedly its greatest strength. He can overtake opposing defenders in the blink of an eye because, in addition to good dribbling, he also has the appropriate technique and ball handling.
Donyell Malen: Strong pace, weaknesses in the end
He also showed that at the European Championships for the Netherlands – for example when he scored the first goal against North Macedonia, when he simply left his opponent in midfield in a quick counterattack. Also to be seen in the huge chance in the round of 16 against the Czech Republic, when Malen accelerated impressively past the entire defense in the 52nd minute but failed in the duel with the goalkeeper.
It sounds paradoxical in view of 27 goals and ten assists in 44 competitive games under Schmidt, but the conclusion is one of the weaknesses at Malen. Similar to Marco Reus, for example, who also has good statistics, Malen tends to miss a lot of big chances – especially in one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Malen still has to work on his header.
The reputation Malen has earned in his home country – meanwhile, he has also become Eindhoven’s captain – was shown during the European Championship. In the Netherlands, there was a national discussion as to whether the coach Frank de Boer, who resigned after the knockout in the round of 16, should rely on Malen or Wout Weghorst in the storm center.
The vast majority in the country voted for painting, and the TV experts also spoke out in favor of it. The controversial de Boer decided in the first two games for Weghorst alongside the seeded Memphis Depay – until Malen took his chance against North Macedonia and was then allowed to play against the Czechs from the start.
Borussia Dortmund transfer target Donyell Malen: performance data at PSV Eindhoven
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