Eintracht Frankfurt are earning a growing reputation for elite talent identification. This summer saw Luka Jović and Sebastien Haller leave the German club for a combined £105 million. They had signed both strikers for £6.3 million each.
Frankfurt aren’t looking to become a selling club, but the turnover in profit from just two players is quite staggering. The German side will instead be looking to build on last season’s seventh-place finish. They came only four points short of fourth-place Bayer Leverkusen, who claimed the last Champions League spot. They also came incredibly close to a place in the Europa League final, losing on penalties to eventual winners Chelsea in the semi-final.
Although they are yet to replace their two strikers, Frankfurt have gone quietly about adding to their squad this summer. The most intriguing of their signings, is that of 22-year-old Swiss international, Djibril Sow. This tactical analysis and scout report will look into the midfielder’s prowess at former club BSC Young Boys, and evaluate his potential impact for Eintracht Frankfurt.
Djibril Sow’s career so far
Despite spending most of his youth career in Switzerland, Sow moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach as an 18-year-old. However, after spending the majority of his two years at the club in the reserves, he decided to move back to Switzerland, and sign with BSC Young Boys.
He became part of a Young Boys side that won the Swiss Super League for the first time in over 30 years in the 2017-18 season, before repeating the feat the next year too. Young Boys were dominant in Sow’s two years at the club, winning the league titles in both seasons by 16 and 20 points respectively.
Sow was widely heralded by the Swiss press for his consistent performances and last year continued to grow into a creative midfield maestro, demonstrating an incredible range of accurate and varied passes, combined with composure and skill on the ball.
Positionally
Djibril Sow is a versatile centre-midfielder. He can play as a deep-lying playmaker, but is also just as at home playing in an attacking-role, behind the striker. He would often switch between these roles during games for Young boys.
When playing deeper, Sow was the key to the build-up play, coming deep to receive from the goalkeeper, as the two centre-backs split. We can see this in the below analysis.
He was used as the predominant ball-carrier in the side, and his excellent passing ability, both short and long, meant that he could launch attacks quickly, or dictate the build-up play.
Sow would often remain deep during attacking phases, and worked as the pivot in Young Boys’ midfield. We can see this from looking at his heat map.
