The 10 Bundesliga players to crash the last six months
Stefan Bienkowski
- 28 Feb 2022 07:55 CST
- 12 min read
The German Bundesliga is one of Europe’s biggest leagues and has a notable reputation for developing some of the continent’s most promising players.
However, away from the Jamal Musiala and Erling Haalands of the world, the German top flight also has a number of players that were once considered stars in the making but have since fallen by the wayside.
Using data from SciSports, we’ve put together a list of the 10 players under the age of 30 that have regressed the most over the course of the past six months.
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Nico Elvedi
There’s little doubt that Nico Elvedi was an important part of an impressive Gladbach side last season, but this time around the Swiss central defender has looked far from his best.
At the heart of Adi Hutter’s side, Elvedi has been one of the main culprits in a team that has gone from hero to zero in no time at all. And coupled with a ligament injury in November, it hasn’t been an impressive six months at all for the defender.
Max Arnold
On his day, Max Arnold is one of the Bundesliga’s most talented playmakers and that was certainly the case last season when the Wolfsburg midfielder bagged three goals and seven assists in 30 league games.
However, this season has been a horrendous campaign for the Wolves and with just two goals and zero assists in 24 league games for this club, Arnold certainly hasn’t done much to help his troubled side lately.
Lucas Tousart
Signed for a remarkable sum of €25 million in 2020 from Lyon, Lucas Tousart was supposed to take the Bundesliga by storm last season but didn’t exactly live up to expectations.
Unfortunately for the 24-year-old midfielder, this season has been even harder for the Hertha Berlin talent as he’s struggled to even hold down a starting role in a team that are desperately hoping to fight off the threat of relegation come May.
Koen Casteels
Like Arnold, Koen Casteels is a leading player in the Bundesliga in his position when he’s on form but the trouble for the Wolfsburg shot-stopper is that he hasn’t been on form for quite some time.
So far this season Casteels has been virtually ever present for a team that have conceded 37 goals in 24 league games. Of course, the keeper hasn’t been at fault for all of those goals, but he also hasn’t exactly led by example either.
Max Lacroix
Last season Max Lacroix was considered one of the most promising defenders in German football, after he made the move to Wolfsburg and thrived alongside John Brooks at the heart of the club’s defence.
However, this season has been a different story entirely, with the young Frenchman looking error-prone, erratic and most worrying of all, entirely uninterested in playing for Wolfsburg after a move to RB Leipzig was ruled out in the summer.
Manuel Akanji
Like others on the list, Manuel Akanji has for some time been considered promising young talent in the German top flight, but when push came to shove for Dortmund this season the defender has struggled to live up to the hype.
Although Akanji certainly hasn’t been the worst culprit in Dortmund’s defence, he has struggled to put together any semblance of form for Marco Rose’s side and could now find himself on the transfer list in the summer.
Luca Waldschmidt
Last season Luca Waldschmidt did remarkably well at Benfica by bagging no less than 10 goals and four assists from an attacking midfield position for the club. So much so that Wolfsburg decided to buy him for a cool €12m.
However, to the frustration of the Bundesliga side, Waldschmidt hasn’t been able to replicate his form in the German top flight and to date has managed just one goal and two assists in 15 games for his new club this season.
Kevin Mbabu
There were few players as effective down the right wing in the Bundesliga last season as Wolfsburg wing-back Kevin Mbabu, but unfortunately that hasn’t been the case this time around.
So far this season, the Switzerland international has managed just one assist in 24 games and has found himself dropped from the matchday squad entirely since the turn of the year.
Matthias Ginter
For a number of seasons, Matthias Ginter was considered a tremendous central defender and, in truth, probably far too good for Gladbach.
However, like many of his team mates at the Bundesliga side, Ginter has performed well below par this season and struggled to showcase the kind of talents that should earn him a big move when his current deal expires at the end of the season.
