There have been many players in the Bundesliga this season to make a breakthrough and start to alert clubs of their presence with their stats. Although Jean Paul Boetius arrived in the Bundesliga last year, Boëtius has built on his consistent form shown in his first season and has become a key player for Mainz. This form has seen him become one of the best attacking midfielders in the Bundesliga and I would not be surprised to see teams keeping close tabs on him over the course of the second half of the season. In this tactical analysis, we will look at why he is now considered one of the most underrated players in the Bundesliga, and analyse both his offensive and defensive output to show why clubs could look to him as a low-risk option for an attacking midfielder.
Statistical analysis
One of Boëtius best attributes is his smart passing, which Wyscout defines as:
When the player is cutting the lines and winning some advantage for his teammates with this pass, leading them in good position to attack. The pass should be between 2-3 opposite players.
Boëtius leads the Bundesliga in this metric and lies fourth in smart passes per 90 minutes, an impressive statistic for a player valued at 6 million euros on Wyscout.
As well as smart passes, Boëtius lies 13th in the league for progressive passing accuracy and lies second for through passes. His accuracy in these stats could improve, but when compared to similar players who are valued much higher we can see below that he is still performing impressively. His defensive stats are better than all other attacking midfielders compared, which is made even more impressive when you consider that Boëtius has faced the fourth most duels in the Bundesliga this season.
He is competing with the very best attacking midfielders within the Bundesliga while playing within what has been one of the poorest teams in the league this season.
