Borussia Dortmund have one of the most exciting young teams in Europe. Many youngsters choose to transfer to the German club due to their reputation for developing talent. While the limelight has been on young stars like Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland, there are other exceptional players at the club too. Thorgan Hazard is one of them, and here’s what makes him so good.
Attacking Output and Creativity
Dortmund play a free-flowing, attacking style of football, and Thorgan Hazard is perfectly suited to that system. Hazard scores plenty of goals and provides even more assists. In each of the past 3 seasons, he has been involved in more than 15 goals plus assists.
In his debut season with Dortmund in 2019/20, Thorgan Hazard scored 7 goals and provided 13 assists in the Bundesliga and significantly outperformed his expected goals and expected assists tally. This indicates that he is a good finisher who also creates quality chances for his teammates.
Thorgan Hazard's ingenuity and creativity make him one of the most influential players on the pitch. He performs 3.89 shot-creating actions and 0.76 goal creating actions per 90 as a result. Additionally, the 27-year-old took 1.5 shots per game, made 1.7 key passes per game, and completed 1.5 dribbles per game in the Bundesliga last season.
Versatility and intelligence
The Belgian international, often overshadowed by his older brother Eden Hazard, is an extremely intelligent player. He has excellent positional awareness and his movement makes him extremely dangerous in the final third. Thorgan Hazard's pace and directness are also key weapons in his arsenal.
The current Dortmund boss, Lucien Favre knows Hazard very well. In fact, it was Favre who signed Hazard from Chelsea during the Swiss coach’s time at Gladbach. Having understood his playing style, Favre chose to use Hazard as a versatile attacking player in many different positions.
Although he started most matches as an attacking midfielder, playing through the center, Thorgan Hazard was deployed in as many as 7 different positions. According to whoscored.com, he was played as an attacking midfielder through the center, the left, and the right. Hazard also played as a left-winger, left midfielder, right-winger, and striker.
In conclusion, Thorgan Hazard is a versatile and intelligent attacking player. He is direct in his approach and produces impressive results. While most of the attention goes to young sensations at the club such as Sancho and Haaland, Hazard is a crucial player for Borussia Dortmund.