Arne Maier

Arne Maier is one of the most promising talents in German football.

After giving his Bundesliga debut for Hertha Berlin in 2017, he won the silver “Fritz-Walter-Medaille” in 2018, following awardees like Neuer, Max Meyer and Timo Werner. Having already played 18 Bundesliga matches for Berlin, the €7.5 million worth talent might recommend himself for greater tasks in the upcoming season.

In the following, we will display Maiers strengths and weaknesses to evaluate if the German midfielder will be able to succeed on the international football stage.

Box-to-box player

The young midfielder is the paragon of a “box-to-box player”. His solid defensive skills paired with his ability to progress the ball up the pitch might make him very valuable in the future.

In lower areas, Maier is able to control the game with short and highly precise passes. This can be proven by his pass completion rate of 83.3% in 17 Bundesliga matches last season. With his solid body (183cm, 79kg) and clever positioning between ball and opponent, he has a good pressing resistance. This can help in build-up play to gain more time for the creation of new passing lanes.

Further up the pitch, the youngster connects midfield and attack with passes between midfield and last line of the opposition. Thereby he is already a pivotal point of the Berlin midfield when it comes to penetrating the opponents midfield.

Situationally, the youth international joins the attack with deep runs or covers the attack in a central position. With his tactical competence, Maier keeps the balance between defence and offence.

Due to these abilities, Arne Maier played for Hertha mostly as a central defensive midfielder. However, the Bundesliga player is quite flexible and could also fit in a 4-1-4-1 system playing in the centre of the midfield-four. One can even describe him as a playmaker. However, he does not pull strings on the typical central offensive midfielder position but more deep-lying.