The Curious Case of Julian Brandt

[nudge+]

I was a massive fan when he was playing for Leverkusen; such a joy to watch, and his talent was apparent from a very young age. Now, I haven't watched all that much of football in general or BVB in particular in recent years, but it seems that he failed to become a regular and has now been encouraged to search for a new club. So, what happened? Failed to live up to his potential? Lack of consistency? Bad fit of a club? 

Where do you see him ending up? 

[Rucksackfranzose]

Think he's one of multiple players, who fit very well in their first pro club and afterwards took the step up clubwise too early, had issues at the next step and fell of a cliff perhaps because of a loss of self-confidence, perhaps because they were overrated at first, most likely because of a mixture of both reasons. Very compatible to Max Meyer, Lewis Holtby, Marco Marin, and Julian Draxler in this regard, in my opinion.

[nudge+]

I listened to his interview on some podcast a while ago, and was surprised with some things he said. Admitted to always have been struggling defensively, which in itself is a fair and honest statement to make, but he also stated that he's often unwilling to go into challenges, and that every coach has failed to change him in that aspect. The weird thing was he actually sounded proud for not being willing to change his preferred style of play - even if he's working to improve his weaknesses, it did sound as if he lacked flexibility and willingness (or ability) to adapt. 

[Coma]

In my opinion his issue is consistency, which probably stems from motivation.  He can look like a world-beater one match (heck, even one half of a match) and completely disappear the next.  Too many times he looks like he couldn't be bothered.  He's not good enough offensively to not contribute defensively, so he ends up on the bench and comes on when you need a goal.  Not sure how many starts he managed but he did have 31 appearances in the league and still managed 9 goals (according to Wikipedia) last season.  Not too bad for a part-time player. 

Let's not forget that he's still on the fringes of the national team.  Has he lived up to his expectations?  Maybe not but I don't think it's fair to lump him in with some of the names mentioned.

I could see him ending up at Gladbach or Frankfurt where is a bit less pressure.

[nudge+]

10 minutes ago, Coma said:

In my opinion his issue is consistency, which probably stems from motivation.  He can look like a world-beater one match (heck, even one half of a match) and completely disappear the next.  Too many times he looks like he couldn't be bothered.  He's not good enough offensively to not contribute defensively, so he ends up on the bench and comes on when you need a goal.  Not sure how many starts he managed but he did have 31 appearances in the league and still managed 9 goals (according to Wikipedia) last season.  Not too bad for a part-time player. 

Let's not forget that he's still on the fringes of the national team.  Has he lived up to his expectations?  Maybe not but I don't think it's fair to lump him in with some of the names mentioned.

I could see him ending up at Gladbach or Frankfurt where is a bit less pressure.

A bit of Özil syndrom, then?

I hope he stays in Germany, but I doubt it. 

[Coma]

38 minutes ago, nudge said:

A bit of Özil syndrom, then?

I hope he stays in Germany, but I doubt it. 

I'm not sure his highs are/were quite as high as Özil, but that's a great comparison.