Striker Could Provide Huge Upside For Hoffenheim

Kasper Dolberg was once considered the hottest talent coming out of Denmark, a typical Football Manager signing, talented, with huge upside available for a good deal. After all, Dolberg scored 16 goals and six assists in 29 Eredivisie games in the 2016/17 season.

That year, the then 19-year-old also helped Ajax reach the final of the Europa League, adding another six goals and one assist in 13 games to his season total. That first year at Ajax was certainly Dolberg’s best year. The striker would manage double digits in the Eredivisie just one more time when he scored 11 goals in 25 games for Ajax in 2018/19.

Overall, Dolberg would manage 45 goals and 16 assists in 119 games for Ajax across all competitions before being sold to OGC Nice for €20.5 million ($22 million) in the summer of 2019. Two more seasons with 11 goals each followed. Decent but not enough for a player signed for a significant transfer fee.

To make matters worse, Dolberg’s output started to drop right around the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Danish striker managed just six goals in 25 Ligue 1 games in 2020/21 and six goals in 26 Ligue 1 games in 2021/22.

As a result, Dolberg’s Transfermarkt market value, which peaked at €23 million ($24.5 million) in October 2020, started to drop all the way to just €12 million ($12.7 million). With the Danish striker struggling, a restart in the summer at a new club also failed.

Sevilla, a club well known for reviving the careers of players with significant potential that have gotten stuck in their career path for one reason or another, loaned the striker in August. That loan, however, was ended prematurely this winter after playing just eight games for the Spaniards across all competitions (no goals).

But instead of returning to Nice, Dolberg was quickly moved on to Bundesliga side Hoffenheim. The Kreichgauer signed the striker on loan earlier this week and has an option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season.

“Kasper is a center-forward who stands out thanks to his intelligent style of play as well as his outstanding ball control, dynamism, and a certain physicality,” TSG’s director of football Alexander Rosen said in a club statement. “He can pose a goal threat at any time by making clever runs, and, in addition to his finishing abilities, he can hold the ball up well with his back to goal. We’re convinced that he can add an element to our game that we do not have in that form in our squad…”

Hoffenheim has been tracking the player since the 2020 European Championship, where he scored three goals in four games for Denmark. The tournament, which took place in the summer of 2021, highlighted the Danish striker’s ability at a time when his club form started to dip.

Those performances also keep convincing clubs like Sevilla and Hoffenheim that Dolberg is worth a second or third chance. And indeed, the Danish forward could be a signing with potentially significant upside for the Bundesliga side.

On paper, Dolberg will become the fifth center-forward in the team coached by André Breitenreiter. But Andrej Kramarić is just returning from another successful World Cup with Croatia and seeing his role shift to supporting striker. Israeli forward Munas Dabbur is now 30 and has struggled with some injuries this season.

Then there is the highly touted Georginio Rutter. The French forward is a speedy and gifted striker and could harmonize well with Dolberg in Breitenreiter’s favored 3-4-1-2 formation. More of a dribbler, Rutter could create the space and time Dolberg needs to regain his goalscoring touch.

And that will be key for all parties involved. Hoffenheim needs a player that can score consistently for them in the second half of the season. In Dolberg, the club has secured a player that could do just that, regain his market value, and become a player that could turn out to be a signing with significant upside while posing a minimal risk.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth