Luka Jovic, Jadon Sancho and the top 5 breakout stars of 2018/19
The 2018/19 Bundesliga season has seen several players take their performances to another level by being outstanding week-in week-out, improving their goal tallies, and becoming central to their clubs’ success.
bundesliga.com takes a look at the top five players who have gone from solid performers to bona fide stars in 2018/19...
Last season: Jovic arrived in Frankfurt on a two-year loan from Portuguese giants Benfica. In the first of those two years, the Serbia striker scored eight goals in 22 Bundesliga appearances – a respectable return, but not quite world class. He didn't even get off the bench in Frankfurt's DFB Cup final win over Bayern Munich, despite getting them there with a sensational back-heeled goal in the last four.
This season: The second year of his loan spell in Germany turned out quite different than the first. Twenty six goals and six assists in all competitions have helped Frankfurt to fourth place in the Bundesliga and the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League. Jovic scored his side’s only goal against Chelsea in the semi-final first leg, which they went on to draw 1-1, putting the Eagles within touching distance of a European final and serious silverware.
Closer to home, Jovic’s 17 strikes put him in third place behind only Robert Lewandowski and Paco Alcacer in the Bundesliga scoring charts. His time in Frankfurt coincided with him becoming a full Serbia international. Having only turned 21 before the turn of the year, it’s safe to say that after an impressive breakthrough season, the best of Jovic is still to come. It’s no wonder Frankfurt moved swiftly to make his loan a permanent arrangement.
Watch: Luka Jovic analysed by Tifo Football
Jadon Sancho
Last season: After arriving from the youth set-up at Manchester City, Sancho immediately became part of the first team at Signal Iduna Park. Twelve appearances (seven of them starts), a goal, and four assists represented a respectable first season in German football and offered hints of what was to come - though Christian Pulisic, Mario Götze, Andre Schürrle, Maximilian Philipp and Andriy Yarmolenko all enjoyed more minutes in the wide positions.
This season: Fast forward a year and the 19-year-old is arguably Dortmund’s most valuable player. Twelve appearances became 34, meaning that Sancho appeared in each and every one of Dortmund's matches. Last season's lone goal became 12, and 14 assists saw him compete with Lionel Messi, Joshua Kimmich and Ryan Fraser (yes, Bournemouth's Ryan Fraser!) as the top assister in Europe’s five major league per UEFA coefficient.
It’s safe to say that, without his contribution, BVB would not have been able to sustain their title challenge. From rivalling Marco Reus as Dortmund’s talisman to becoming a full England international and outperforming the world’s biggest names, the London native became a superstar this season. Not bad for a young man yet to break out of his teens.
Watch: How Sancho is becoming world-class at Dortmund
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Serge Gnabry
Last season: Gnabry spent 2017/18 on loan at Hoffenheim, where he made 22 appearances, scored 10 goals, created a further seven and helped Julian Nagelsmann's side qualify for the UEFA Champions League. It was a decidedly successful loan spell, but questions remained as to whether Gnabry could hit the same heights when competing with the likes of James Rodriguez and Thomas Müller for game time.
This season: Happily, Gnabry has proved himself more than equal to the task. In a team containing nothing but top-quality attacking talents, Gnabry increased his playing time - making 30 appearances - and matched his goal and assist figures from last season. Among his Bayern teammates, only goal machine Lewandowski scored more, with 22.
Club president Uli Hoeneß described Gnabry as “the biggest surprise of the season,” in the most positive sense. The 23-year-old has now scored at least 10 goals in each of his three seasons in the Bundesliga, while his place in Joachim Löw’s new-look front three for Germany appears just as safe as Leroy Sane’s or Timo Werner’s. Bayern may have some important departures at the end of this campaign, with Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben moving on, but with a player like Gnabry there to step into those big shoes, the fans have little to worry about.
Kai Havertz
Last season: Having broken into the Bayer Leverkusen first team in 2016/2017, Havertz continued where he left off, with three goals and nine assists in 30 appearances. We knew he was good, but we didn't yet know how good.
This season: In 2018/19, the 19-year-old has gone from being an impressive young player to being a world-beater, full stop. The teenager added a killer instinct to his game and with it came a 14-goal improvement on his tally for the Bundesliga season, along with his first call-ups to the Germany national side.
Whereas in previous seasons the midfielder was a useful player to have around, this term, his was almost certainly one of the first names on the team sheet. Eight of last season’s appearances came from the bench, but only once did Leverkusen risk starting a match without Havertz this season, and that ended in a 3-1 defeat to Werder Bremen. He ended his third Bundesliga season as one of the league’s best and most prolific midfielders and one of his club’s most important players, all before his 20th birthday.
Watch: Havertz, Europe's best young midfielder
Ibrahima Konate
Last season: Konate arrived at RB Leipzig as an unknown quantity – an uncapped centre-back from French Ligue 2 outfit Sochaux who had only just turned 18. In the 2017/2018 season, Konate made 11 starts and a further five appearances as a substitute, but was overshadowed by compatriot Dayot Upamecano’s impressive performances alongside club captain Willi Orban at the heart of Leipzig’s defence.
This season: A year on, Konate more than doubled his playing time and started more games than both Orban and Upemecano. The only outfield player to make more starts than Konate’s 27 was striker Werner, with 28. With the teenager as a central cog in their defensive system, Die Roten Bullen achieved the best defensive record in the league, conceding only 29 goals.
Konate’s individual statistics are impressive, too: He won 71 per cent of his aerial challenges, completed 83 per cent of his passes, as well as scoring one goal and creating another. Form like that powered Leipzig into next season’s Champions League, where a player of Konate’s considerable talent certainly belongs.
Honourable mentions
Ondrej Duda
Hertha Berlin (32 appearances, 11 goals, six assists)
Milot Rashica
Werder Bremen (26 appearances, eight goals, five assists)
Marcel Halstenberg
RB Leipzig (28 appearances, three goals, six assists)
Sebastien Haller
Eintracht Frankfurt (29 appearances, 15 goals, nine assists)
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