Germany international centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck has agreed a transfer to Borussia Dortmund from Bundesliga rivals Freiburg.
Schlotterbeck has undoubtedly been one of the star performers in his team’s push for European football this season, not only that but statistically he is amongst the top performing defenders in Europe’s top five leagues.
The 22-year-old, who has enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2021/22, has agreed terms on a five-year deal through to 2027 at Dortmund, where he is set to form part of a new-look back line alongside fellow centre-back Niklas Süle, who joins from Bayern Munich.
“Nico is a young Germany international who’s had great development. His profile is perfect for BVB,” said outgoing sporting director Michael Zorc.
His successor, Sebastian Kehl, added: “Nico’s journey reminds me of my own, coming as a young Germany international from Freiburg to BVB. I hope Dortmund becomes as much as a home for him as it did for me.
“Nico has huge potential. He’s chosen by no means the financially best offer from numerous interested clubs, but chose BVB to develop here.”
So, lets begin the profile of this extremely gifted young centre back:
Who is Nico Scholetterbeck?
It is easy to forget about Freiburg. Squirreled away in the south west corner of Germany, its population of 230,000 people is not even enough to push it into the top three cities by its size.
The same can be said of its football club; SC Freiburg is often the forgotten club when it comes to German football, regularly surviving, quietly going about their business mid-table or even overachieving relative to its not-so-huge financial resources, but not significant enough that it will make the neutrals sit up and take notice.
However, perceptions this season has been dramatically altered, as the club currently sit fifth, three points away from the Champions League places deeming it an outstanding season for Christian Streich’s men.
When it comes to player development, this area is curious. Known primarily for blooding goalkeepers, since Streich became head coach in 2011 there have also been a litany of centre-backs moving through the club on their way up the footballing pyramid.
The legacy of producing Robin Koch, Çağlar Söyüncü, Matthias Ginter, Ömer Toprak and Marc-Oliver Kempf shows it is a club who are in the business of developing quality centre-backs.
The latest player to emerge is indeed Nico Schlotterbeck.
Growing up in a suburb of nearby Stuttgart, Schlotterbeck arrived in Freiburg with his older brother, Keven, in 2017. Since then, both have had stints in the Freiburg youth teams, on loan at Union Berlin, and in the Freiburg first team.
Three years the junior, Nico has overtaken his brother in the Freiberg pecking order after putting up some of the best defensive numbers in the Bundesliga last season with a Union side that ultimately qualified for European competition.
The 21-year-old’s performances in Berlin earned him regular appearances in the Germany under-21 team and eventually a senior international debut in March. With the younger Schlotterbeck now firmly ensconced in the Freiburg back line, it looks inevitable that he too will follow a similar step up to his prestigious predecessors amongst the elite clubs on the continent.
Why have Dortmund quickly moved for his signature? Is he any good?
No role in modern football is as difficult to perform as a center-back. For most teams, central defenders are the starting point of their attack and are required to be accomplished and effective on the ball both through dribbling and passing.
As more and more teams across the continent adopt high-pressing systems, they need to be capable of resisting pressure from an opposition press when building from the back, mobile enough to cover in behind if the press is broken, and aerially dominant to stop the opposition from playing long raking balls over the top.
Given the variety and difficulty of these tasks, talented center-backs who perform these actions in abundance are seemingly always in high demand. As such, it’s no doubt that various clubs were interested in acquiring Freiburg’s 22-year old Nico Schlotterbeck.
The £25.20m-rated colossus is the instantiation of a ball-playing centre-back. Primarily a ball carrier, he is good with both feet (the left being his dominant), exceptional at reading space around opponents when ball-carrying, and has the perfect physique to be a mobile and incredibly agile central defender.
Largely deployed in Christian Streich’s system as an wide centre-back in a back three this season, it is not unusual to see Schlotterbeck driving with the ball deep in the opposition half, attacking space opened out by his captain, the left wing-back Christian Günter.
This ability with the ball at his feet is reflected in his incredible numbers.
As per FBref, over the past 365 days, he ranks in the top eight percent of central defenders across Europe’s top five leagues for progressive passes per 90 minutes (4.52) and in the top 13th percentile for progressive carries (4.20) and the top three percentile for dribbles completed amongst his defensive counterparts highlighting that he is indeed amongst the best of the best when progressing the ball from deep.
In fact, within the German top-flight, he ranked eighth in the division for passes into the final third (137). Given his role for Freiburg this season, his dribble volume is through the roof: 1.17 per 90 with an impressive success rate of just over 58%.
It’s worth noting that Schlotterbeck is his team’s primary outlet for progressing the play and, in some instances, can even be a creative outlet.
Head coach Christian Streich provided him license to push forwards and underlap as a center-back, much in the way Antonio Rudiger does as a left center-back for Chelsea or what Sheffield United managed so successfully under Chris Wilder from 2016 to 2021.
If you can break a team’s first initial branch of pressure with your centre-back, you can surely pose problems for them in deeper defensive areas, unbalancing them structurally and opening gaps that can be exploited by more advanced team-mates.
When it comes to passing, there are some areas of potential improvement. Schlotterbeck is by no means a bad passer of the ball. With short, and sweet passes, he is comfortable using both feet, and in confined spaces, he is good at moving the ball out to a team-mate – an extension, no doubt, of his dribbling prowess – a very rare commodity amongst centre backs in Europe.
But there is a lack of consistency in his game here which can lead to a breakdown in possession. As a perfectly capable ball carrier, he sometimes invites opponents towards him in order to beat them, but this makes any potential pass out of trouble more difficult. His long passing is good, especially when he has time on the ball, as evidenced through his impressive progressive passing metrics.
This blend of on-ball attributes might lead to questions of his defensive credentials, but within this area, the Waiblingen-born defender also excels tremendously. The athleticism that lends itself so well to ball-carrying is an important part of his game when facing opposition attackers.
With the capacity to respond quickly to the on-ball movement of opposition players, the German is able to track opponents and pick his moment to make tackles.
Schlotterbeck’s defensive metrics must be understood within the context of Freiburg’s style. Playing in either a 3-4-3 or 4-4-2 setup, Streich emphasizes both vertical and horizontal compactness throughout the team, with the main objective of funneling the opposition’s possession out in wide areas to make it more easier to dispossess them.
His standout defensive attributes lie in his aggression.
Particularly when he plays as the left-sided center-back in a 3-4-3, Schlotterbeck exceled at stepping out to prevent strikers and other attackers from having time and space to penetrate Freiburg’s block through the center.
The 6 foot 3in powerhouse’s strength, tackling, and mobility to cover the space behind if needed means he can make the seemingly risky defensive approach extremely fruitful.
The German international ranks well in his interception and tackle metrics: within the 81st percentile for interceptions per 90 (2.59) and also ranking eighth in the Bundesliga (80), and he also impressively ranks in the 91s percentile for tackles per 90 (2.52) whilst also being amongst the best in the league for tackles won, ranking sixth amongst all players (53).
Across the last two campaign, he has remained consistently above average when it comes to headers won by centre backs, picking up three aerials won per 90 last season and 4.17 aerials won per 90 so far this season, at a success rate of an impressive 74.1%.
Attackers rarely win their aerial duels against Schlotterbeck because of his excellent anticipation and giant leap, and as a result, he is amongst the best players for aerial duels won (103) in the Bundesliga, ranking sixth for % of aerial duels won (74.1), suggesting he is a fantastic reader of the game in the air also.
The two time German international has not only excelled within his defensive aspects but in the attacking sense too, he’s scored four goals so far this season contributing magnificently to Freiburg’s impressive European run in the Bundesliga. He’s certainly not afraid to get shots off, create chances for his teammates from deep. For attacking metrics over the past year, he ranks within top 15 percent for all metrics compared to other defenders in Europe’s top five leagues, apart from assists. For shots total per90, he ranks in the 99th percentile, the top one percent of defenders averaging 1.20 shots, and also in the 99th percentile for shot-creating actions per 90 (1.68).
These are all unique and extraordinary metrics. The ideology that defenders are supposed to defend do not ring true when analysing Schlotterbeck’s game. He is not just a conventional ball-playing center-back: he is unique in how rounded he can be as a creative weapon.
It is no wonder why, top teams across the continent have tracked his progress, his current readings suggest he is indeed one of the best young defenders on the continent and Borussia Dortmund have certainly got themselves an absolute gem.
What does the future hold for Schlotterbeck?
Having made the stark progress and step up to the German senior setup, Nico Schlotterbeck deserves his upcoming move to Borussia Dortmund.
There is also the added bonus that he has performed well in two different Bundesliga systems in separate seasons, meaning he is highly adaptable and reliable whatever system and responsibility is being asked of him.
In a current footballing market boasting a whole plethora of young talented centre-backs, Schlotterbeck enjoys two advantages over some of his contemporaries. Firstly, he is predominantly left footed.
As the build-up phase in possession becomes increasingly central to elite football clubs, the need for left-footed players has never been higher, given the benefit of having a dominant-footed centre-back on the left in your back line, hence why Dortmund needed a able-bodied left-footed centre back.
Secondly, Schlotterbeck is current employed at a club who are renowned for talent ID and player development, with a strong history of moving these players on for relatively affordable sums of money – exactly what Dortmund have made the most of, and will surely get an incredible return once he gets going again next season.
The sky’s is indeed the limit for Nico Schlotterbeck.
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