🛑 Career stalled in Dortmund: have BVB put the brakes on his progress? | OneFootball

In the 6th (!) minute of stoppage time, he briefly turned into BVB’s super-sub hero when, on the eighth Bundesliga matchday, he scored the golden winning goal against the newly promoted team from Cologne, thus preventing Dortmund from dropping two points in a match they absolutely had to win. 

We’re talking about BVB striker Maximilian Beier. This super-sub goal is his most recent highlight – but before and after that, you search in vain for more. And that’s somewhat puzzling for a player who actually brings so much quality to the table – in theory. 

Perfect Start

Career-wise, things started off really well for him. On loan from TSG Hoffenheim, the then 18-year-old made the leap into professional football at Hannover 96 – and did so quite respectably. Two years in the capital of Lower Saxony helped him mature as a footballer. 

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After his return, he shone in Sinsheim with 16 goals in 33 Bundesliga matches for TSG, putting himself not only on Borussia Dortmund’s radar but also catching the eye of Julian Nagelsmann. In the summer of 2024, he was allowed to join the European Championship squad, signed with the Black and Yellows, and by then had at least set foot on the big football stage.

Career Brake at BVB?

And then? The big highlights failed to materialize, and it seemed as if Beier was treading water rather than really moving forward.

One of the reasons: The attacking player joined his new club almost simultaneously with a coach who clearly misunderstood him. Under club legend Nuri Sahin, Beier was often only deployed on the right wing. He made it quite clear after Sahin’s dismissal that he was unhappy with this.

Shortly after Niko Kovač took over the team, he said in a talk with ‘Ruhr Nachrichten’: “Niko Kovač trusted me, and I finally got to play in the right position. When he asked the team which positions they wanted to play, I wrote only ‘striker’ on the slip.”

So far, so good – at last, Beier’s wish for his preferred position was heard and acknowledged. You’d think things would really take off now, right? After all, Kovač finally lets him play where Beier feels most comfortable: as a strike partner alongside Guirassy or as a supporting striker in the center and in the half-spaces behind the main striker – at least, when he plays.

Too Often on the Bench?

The problem: He’s not an undisputed starter at BVB. Kovač does rely on him more often than Sahin did, but according to ‘bundesliga.de’, he has played only 562 out of a possible 900 Bundesliga minutes this season. For comparison: strike partner Guirassy missed just a little over a hundred of those minutes. And that’s unlikely to improve: with Adeyemi and the two new signings Silva and Bellingham, the competition for places in attacking midfield will remain fierce.

Even in the national team, Beier’s big breakthrough has yet to come despite his participation in the Euros. While he was still part of the squad during the last international break, he had to watch from the sofa against Luxembourg and Slovakia.

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So more is expected from Beier – both by Kovač and by Nagelsmann.

Beier Is Actually a Real Doer

The basic qualities of the now 23-year-old are obvious: when he’s on the pitch, he always gives EVERYTHING. On average, he covers almost 12 kilometers per game and makes the third-most sprints of all BVB players. When it comes to speed, few can match him: after Adeyemi, Beier is the second-fastest player at Dortmund. He also possesses high football intelligence, a great sense for space, and knows exactly how successful pressing works. 

His commitment is reminiscent of the great Dortmund players. He’s not one of them yet, though – he’s neither a star in a BVB shirt nor a serious option for the German national team.

Why He’s (Still) Not a Star

Is the attacking player perhaps too much of a team player? For example: in the match at FC Augsburg, he took over the left wing due to a personnel shortage and received a lot of praise for it – but whether such experiments help his development in his main position is questionable. 

The playing system isn’t necessarily tailored to his player type either. Under Niko Kovač, BVB often plays with wide wingers and early crosses from the flanks – play through the center? You often look for it in vain. This footballing approach certainly limits the midfielders’ chances to shine here and there. 

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But of course, Beier himself also contributes to the fact that he hasn’t gotten as far in a BVB shirt as he perhaps could have. Especially in the last few BVB matches, he hasn’t really been able to impress and often lacked sparkle. For example, he received a grade of 5 from ‘Sport1’ for his performance in the City match, and according to ‘RUHR24’, he only managed a 4.5 for his performance in the away game against HSV. 

Maximilian Beier is therefore a player who always seems to try hard, but too often, it’s obviously without reward. A lot of effort, little result. That’s probably why the statistics remain just numbers and have yet to be reflected on the pitch. 

At the moment, the 23-year-old is still quite a way off from developing into a top player at BVB – or elsewhere. And that’s despite having many of the prerequisites. The question remains whether Dortmund is the right place for his development – or whether he’d have more success somewhere else. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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