JOACHIM Löw’s decision to take an axe to the international careers of Thomas Müller, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng has turned the spotlight on the men who’ll have to succeed this iconic trio in the Germany side. One of them will be Bayern Munich centre-back Niklas Süle. The 23-year-old has outmuscled his club team-mates Hummels and Boateng to become the first name on the team-sheet at the back this season and will also be the man Löw’s new Nationalmannschaft defence will be built around.
Is the 1,95m giant now better or at least as good as the World Cup winning partnership? One expert disagrees – Süle himself. “Mats and Jerome are still among the best in the world for me,” he told Welt am Sonntag back in November. “I would never compare myself to them. Considering all the trophies they’ve won, I cannot say I’m at the same level as them. Not even close.”
Süle is a little too modest in his self-appraisal. If you speak to data analysts supplying clubs with scouting data, they will tell you that Hummels and Boateng have both regressed a little in their performances in the current campaign. For years, they were outliers, setting an unattainable benchmark for other centre-backs in the Bundesliga. “This season, we consider them still the best. But Süle has performed comparably, especially in purely defensive terms,” one analyst said. The old guard are still ahead when it comes to their passing range and build-up contribution.
Niklas Sule (23) in the Bundesliga this season;
Position: Centre Back
20 Games
1 Goal
92.9% Pass Accuracy
83.7 Passes
4.5 Long Balls
3 Clearances
1.6 Interceptions
0.9 Tackles
(Per Game Stats)Strengths:
•Passing
•Aerial ThreatWeaknesses:
•Acceleration
•Agility pic.twitter.com/bAhvXiUQr5— Football Scouts (@FootbaII_Scouts) February 21, 2019
Süle needs to improve his contribution to make the step up to truly world-class. There’s also a suspicion he might have bulked up a little too much. But considering his relatively young age and the calibre of the competition at club and country, the fact that he is being trusted ahead of them is testament to his steady improvement since moving from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to the Bavarian capital in 2017.
For those who have followed his career since his teenage days at TSG, Süle’s progress won’t have come as too much of a surprise, however. Aged 17, he first really started catching the eye of observers with steely yet elegant performances for the club from the southwest of Germany. Tipped for great things by many, he was bemused to receive a call from a representative of the Turkish FA who enquired if he had any roots in that country – they mistakenly believed his last name might be Turkish.
As a Germany youth international, Süle was part of the side who finished runners-up at the 2016 Rio Olympics, doing well against Neymar in a final that went to penalties. At senior level, his big break-through performance was probably the thrilling 2-2 semi-semi-final second leg with Bayern at the Bernabéu back in April of last year, where he proved that he could hold his own in the Champions League,
Niklas Sule scores the Pen and that's a wrap we've won our first game of the year in the Telekom cup
.
.
.@FCBayernUS @FCBayernEN #miasanmia#bayernindia#bayernmunich pic.twitter.com/JUYiXwUwwQ— Bayern Fanclub India (@bayernindia) January 13, 2019
The veterans will only be more determined to win back their place at the heart of Bayern’s defence after getting the boot by Löw. Taking into account that Hummels and Boateng are not the best of friends, Niko Kovac could have probably done with competition for places heating up even more. Süle though, is unlikely to cause any trouble: Boateng has long been his role model.
When the young defender ruptured his cruciate ligament in December 2014, Boateng sent him a “Get well soon” text message. “It was a big thing for me. I lost it for a little bit” Süle told spox.com.
He’s looked up to the Berlin-born based centre-back ever since, modelling his game on him. The apprentice became so good at emulating the master that Bayern were tempted to sell Boateng to PSG in the summer. 2019 is shaping up to be the year when Süle is fully stepping out of the shadows to become the defensive lynchpin in not just one but two big teams.
