Liverpool's new Firmino? Hoffenheim sensation Beier is the real deal
Sam McGuire
- Updated: 11 Dec 2023 15:40 GMT
- 4 min read
The German national team isn’t in the best state right now.
Of the 11 matches they have played in 2023, six have ended in defeat. The likes of Poland, Colombia, Japan, Tukey and Austria have all claimed victories over die Mannschaft.
While there are a few bright sparks within the squad, it doesn’t look quite as exciting as it did a couple of years ago. However, Maximilian Beier might soon change that.
The 21-year-old has five under-21 caps to his name and has so far been overlooked by national team manager Julian Nagelsmann. However, his performances for Hoffenheim this term simply cannot be ignored. His fearlessness, aggressiveness and confidence could be key to sparking this Germany team into life ahead of the 2024 European Championships.
A wanted man
He may have only really burst onto the scene this year but he’s already being courted by Europe’s elite. Recent reports have claimed Liverpool are just one of the Premier League clubs keeping tabs on his situation.
Beier reportedly has a €30 million release clause in his deal and is set to move away from Hoffenheim this summer. If his early season form continues, he won’t be short of offers.
The versatile forward has six goals to his name already in just 13 appearances this season in the Bundesliga. The Hoffenheim No14 has been paired in attack with former Manchester United forward Wout Weghorst with die Kraichgauer using a 3-5-2 system.
The youngster is the team’s top scorer and he’s seamlessly adapted to life in the German top-flight. The 6ft1 forward spent two seasons on loan with Hannover in the 2. Bundesliga to get first-team opportunities and it was a success. He racked up over 4,200 minutes across two seasons and ended his loan spell with the club having scored 10 goals while chipping in with three assists.
Beier's breakout season
Heading into the 2023/24 campaign, he was a bit of an unknown. While with Hannover, he wasn’t exactly a reliable goal threat but he was just a teen learning his trade. Because of this, nobody really knew what to expect from Beier. I’m not entirely sure he knew what sort of role he was going to have for Pellegrino Matarazzo and how that would impact his output.
While with Hannover, Beier was used as a right-winger, as a left-winger and as a centre-forward. Most of his minutes last season arrived as a striker but towards the latter end of the campaign he had a period on the left and this, undoubtedly, skewed his averages.
Since returning to the PreZero Arena, Beier has been given a set role and he’s thriving. It has allowed him to scale his numbers and this has seen a spike in his output.
Confident on either foot, Beier is now averaging over three shots per 90, more than doubling what he was averaging for Hannover last term. As a result of this, he’s more dangerous than ever before. This can be seen in his Expected Goal averages. This season, it is 0.45 per 90, last season it was 0.29. So, more shots, more of a threat.
Interestingly, he’s landing more of his efforts on target. In fact, over 52% of his efforts are working the goalkeeper, up from the 28% he averaged last season. The sample size isn’t the largest but he’s proving himself to be a sharper, more ruthless player this time around.
Beier favours drifting over to the left side before cutting inside and firing a right-footed effort goalwards. It is entirely predictable but is proving difficult to stop. Think of a right-footed Arjen Robben.
The next Firmino?
Liverpool have an array of players capable of filling the left-sided role. There’s Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo. However, there are question marks over Jota’s reliability, Gakpo’s fitness and Diaz’s ceiling as a wide attacker, while Darwin Nunez appears to be better suited to a centre-forward role.
So maybe Beier could be a replacement in attack with the Reds wanting to continue their revamp. The last Hoffenheim attacker to make the move to Merseyside went on to become a club legend. Could lightning strike twice?
