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We have just finished the 2015/16 Bundesliga season, with Frankfurt managing to stay in the top tier after defeating Nürnberg in the relegation play-off. However, somehow the European Championships are already just two weeks away. While most fans and teams are busy trying to finalize their squads, or indeed dream of off-season transfers, we will attempt to pick some lesser known Bundesliga players that could make a name for themselves in France this summer. We’ll be using Mirror’s continuously updated rosters and create our own Bundesliga-based dark horse XI. There is also a limit of one player per country.
1. Zlatko Junuzovic – Werder Bremen and Austria has, for a couple of years, been a cult Bundesliga figure amongst aficionados of creative central-attacking midfielders. At 28 years, this smooth play-maker of Bosnian origin was one of the saviours of Werder Bremen, which of course needed a last second winner to avoid the relegation play-off on Matchday 34. Here is how Junuzovic performed for the season. The 13 assists (some sites like Whoscored credit him with ten) would put him behind Henrikh Mkhitaryan – who was the unanimous choice for player of the season and has been linked with Chelsea for 60 million Euros. 
Those numbers are even more impressive, when we take a look at his splits from the Autumn and Spring. The Spring season; or Rückrunde in German, was particularly great for Werder, as they scored 33 goals (compared to 17 in Autumn) and Junuzovic left all others in his wake with 50 key passes and eight assists.
Considering that last year he basically had the same exact season in terms of numbers (six goals, twelve assists), which put him only behind Kevin de Bruyne’s whopping 20 assists, it is safe to say that Junuzovic is among the most creative players in the league. He has already made 45 appearances since making his debut in 2006 for Austria. The Werder playmaker has scored eleven goals, despite not being the best in front of goal, as his radar chart shows.
The squad will feature Premier League winner Christian Fuchs, Bundesliga winner David Alaba (seriously, stop hogging all the great left-backs Austria!), Kevin Wimmer of Spurs and Aleksandar Dragovic – the man who will probably replace Mats Hummels at Dortmund in defence, new Leverkusen CDM Julian Baumgartlinger in the middle, and guys like Marko Arnautovic of Stoke up top.
Furthermore, decent Bundesliga role players like Martin Harnik, Lukas Hinterseer and Alessandro Schöpf should be present as alternative attacking options. With Austria in quite a favourable group – Portugal are arguably more talented, but Hungary and Iceland are not exactly heavyweights – you could see Junuzovic and his team shine at the Euros.
2. Kingsley Coman was the surprise of the season for Bayern and France, going from a virtually unknown PSG academy player to Juventus prospect to eight trophies in three professional seasons in the blink of an eye. His meteoric rise is even more impressive, given the depth that Bayern possess with Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Douglas Costa and Mario Götze in the squad.
Yet, Ribery and Robben’s injuries and age, coupled with Mario Götze not exactly being one of Pep’s favorite players, meant that Coman was playing in some massive games for one of the world’s biggest clubs. Four goals in the Bundesliga with six assists is nothing to sneer at, but six assists and two goals in 213 Champions League minutes is just explosive! 
Perhaps we should have listened to Bayern sporting director and Euro 96 champion Matthias Sammer, who in September warned us that Coman will explode!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5C0UKMjY6o
Instead of waxing about his playing style -a winger who brings the fear of God into defenders due to his blazing speed – I’ll just show you a picture of the Bundesliga leaders in take ons. 
France are in Group A with Romania, Switzerland and Albania, and with one of the strongest squads in the world, their current position as the favourite to win the tournament at 3/1 odds looks entirely justified. They should progress comfortably and while Coman’s place in the starting XI is far from guaranteed, he could play a key role in the elimination rounds.
3. Staying in group A, Alexandru Maxim – Romania and VfB Stuttgart is a bit of an obscure choice even for casual Bundesliga fans. After all, the 25-year-old couldn’t even start for Stuttgart, who ultimately; despite an eight game surge in the middle of the season, couldn’t overcome its defensive issues, leading to relegation. Despite scoring just one goal, Maxim managed to scrape together six assists and is the fourth best on the key passes per 90 minutes rankings – in some elite company.
While there are some serious questions as to why he hasn’t been able to become a regular in the starting XI – his dribbling, vision and passing (80% career average) suggest an excellent playmaker.
It is hard to tell if the statistical community is overvaluing him, or his coaches are not getting the most out of him, but he will certainly be one to watch for Romania. The Eastern European outfit will need a strong start against France in their opening group if they are to secure an unlikely spot in the elimination rounds from a difficult group.
4. Switzerland are also in that difficult group and all over the Bundesliga. There are three good ‘keepers in the Bundesliga – Yann Sommer of Gladbach, Dortmund’s Roman Bürki and Marwin Hitz of Augsburg fighting for the number one spot. The German Bundesliga Bible – Kicker – ranked them as follows: Hitz was tied for 2nd with a 2.67 average, while Sommer was 13th with 2.98 and Bürki (perhaps due to a horrific Hinrunde) was just 15th with 3.08. The grades are given from 1 to 5, the lower the better.
Hitz is also the clear winner in terms of save percentage, courtesy of the great Challengers Podcast, which shows him at 71.7%, with the two Borussia keepers below the 70.7% league average at 69% each. Those numbers are even more impressive when you consider the defensive talents of Dortmund (Piszczek, Schmelzer, Hummels, Sokratis, Bender), or Gladbach (where new Arsenal CDM Granit Xhaka protects a back-line anchored by Chelsea loanee and surprise of the season Andreas Christensen). This is in stark contrast to Augsburg, who run out 32-year-old right backs like Paul Verhaegh and Estonian center backs like Ragnar Klavan. The Squawka comparison also gives an edge to Hitz.
However, the goalkeeper situation is a classic case of being able to boast a wealth of options for coach Vladimir Petkovic, who took over from the great Ottmar Hitzfeld after the 2014 World Cup where the team lost to Argentina in overtime. After the retirement of Wolfsburg’s long-time national team goalkeeper Diego Benaglio, Yann Sommer has featured the most with 17 appearances, with Bürke earning four call-ups and Marwin Hitz appearing twice, one in a friendly and one in the EURO 2016 qualifier against Estonia.
So, it looks like Yann Sommer will get the call, even though he has had an up and down season for a shaky Gladbach defence that went through 14 different combinations of central defenders. That problem might also rear its ugly head for the national team, because while Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus) and Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg) are arguably world-class full-backs, Arsenal fans will surely remember the artists formerly known as Johann Djourou and Philippe Senderos; now aged 29 and 31 respectively, are the current favourites for the job.
So, that is probably the reason why despite a wealth of talent – Granit Xhaka, Xherdan Shaqiri are well-known all over Europe, while up-and-coming 19-year-old Breel Donald Embolo; who has been linked with Tottenham but will probably cost newly promoted Bundesliga side RB Leipzig 20 million is not. The Swiss team is a 50/1 long shot to win it all.
5. Lukasz Piszczek – Poland and Borussia Dortmund has long been one of the better right-backs in the game, but his performances (particularly in the Spring) this season were a huge reason why Dortmund was able to produce such a magical season. The Polish right-back; who turns 31 next week, has been a staple and a huge fan-favourite since joining on a free transfer in 2010 from Hertha BSC.
While technically gifted (starting his career as a striker) and a great passer, he plays an uncompromising style that is very taxing on his body. A two page Transfermarkt injury history and only playing 1500 minutes in the last three seasons on average are further proof of that. He started the 2015/16 with a hip injury that has allowed Matthias Ginter to thrive in his absence, but Dortmund suffered on the defensive end, conceding 23 goals in 17 matches. Yet, the club remained loyal to him as he signed a contract extension on 27th January this year.
“Piszczu” rewarded the club with a return to the starting line-up, making Dortmund’s defence became close to impenetrable, allowing just eleven goals in the final 17 matches of the season. Actually, if we look at all 20 of the games he played in 2016, we see that BVB conceded only 13 goals, despite the infamous collapse away to Liverpool!
It is perhaps no surprise that Kicker ranked him in the top 15 Bundesliga defenders, alongside many of his Dortmund team-mates, and Squawka had him as the sixth best defender in the Rückrunde!
He and his team-mate; Robert Lewandowski, who became the first player to break the 30-goal barrier in the Bundesliga in 39 years, will look to once again battle Germany (after drawing them in the qualifying group as well) for the top spot, as Ukraine and Northern Ireland round out the rest of the group.
6.Vladimir Darida – Czech Republic – Hertha is one of the signings of the season after a 3.8 million transfer from the relegated Freiburg. He played his football in the great beer town of Pilsen until his move to Freiburg, for whom he played a little under two seasons before the switch to the capital side.
The 25-year-old is a true midfield engine type of player in every sense of the word: he leads the Bundesliga in running, covering 12.6 kilometres per match, but is also capable of scoring and setting up others, as five goals and three assists suggest. He is a reliable passer with an accuracy standing at 82%, and can play either central midfield position and was even used as an attacking midfielder. For a more detailed analysis of how Darida’s arrival revitalized Hertha’s midfield read these two pieces by Tom Payne and Dustin Ward.
His injuries late in the season were one of the major reasons why Hertha’s magic season was derailed, as the Berlin outfit were easily swept aside by Dortmund in the Cup and passed by Leverkusen, Gladbach and others in the league after being in third place for most of the season.
With 33 appearances since 2012, Darida has been a fixture in the middle of the park for the Czech team who will have a tough time with Spain, Turkey and Croatia in Group D. Since this current team is a far cry from the halcyon days of Poborsky and Nemec, they will probably have to rely on Petr Cech’s goalkeeping and hope that Darida can conjure up something together with 35-year-old Tomas Rosicky.
7. Staying in Group D, we have Croatian defender Tin Jedvaj, who has been one of the bigger prospects in world football since moving to Bayer Leverkusen from AS Roma after a successful loan spell. Still only 20, Jedvaj is a strong and versatile defender capable of playing in the centre and the right, who has a great nose for interceptions.
While he had a difficult year, including being sent off twice in a week and clearly needing to improve his 69% pass accuracy, Jedvaj is still a rare talent. I would probably take it easy on the Paolo Maldini comparisons that were being thrown around in this otherwise excellent scouting report in 2014. To be completely fair to the young Croatian, his season was more or less wrecked by injuries, as the following picture shows.
No wonder he only managed 953 Bundesliga minutes for a Leverkusen team that used at least seven different right-backs and was ranked seventh on the excellent Football Injuries list. He will probably not replace legendary RB Darijo Srna in the starting XI, and putting him in the centre of the defence might be a risk for manager Ante Cacic.
Still, if Croatia can muster any semblance of a good back-line, this team is loaded and should definitely get out of this group. There are four great midfield players: Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid) and the Barca duo of Ivan Rakitic and 19-year-old “next Iniesta” Alen Halilovic (on loan at Sporting Gijon this year). Additionally, the Croats possess two excellent strikers in Juve’s Mario Mandzukic and Andrej Kramaric – who has been dominant since his move from Leicester City and Hoffenheim. That is much more impressive than the aforementioned Czechs or the Turkish roster.
8. Speaking of Turkey – Yunus Malli of Mainz has had a wonderful season for his club, which is probably better-known as the origins of great managers Klopp and Tuchel. FSV surprised everyone not only by beating Bayern 2-1 in the Spring, but by hanging around towards the top and ultimately finishing sixth in the league. The 24-year-old CAM was the story of the season in Autumn, banging in eight goals before December and eclipsing his career-high of six in the process.
It is no wonder that Borussia Dortmund were heavily interested, and the rumours became so loud that many claimed that Malli’s quiet second half; which included a goalless drought from the end of November until the last day of February (a brace against Leverkusen), was greatly influenced by the collapse of his move.
The former Germany youth international made the switch to Turkey and debuted in November of 2015 on the back of an improbable Hinrunde. To date, he has only made four appearances to the tune of 95 minutes as Fatih Terim appears to prefer Hakan Calhanoglu of Leverkusen, who while arguably a more known commodity has had a significantly worse season.
Before we get to some stats on the matter, it is worth pointing out that Leverkusen rose through the table after taking the keys of the offence from Calhanoglu and handing them over to Julian Brandt and the revitalized Karim Bellarabi. The 20-year-old Brandt was a seldom used substitute, who scored seven goals in the spring, including six straight to finish off the year, while Bellarabi racked up eight assists in Bayer’s final seven games. Needless to say, they have both made the Germany squad after not really having much of shot at it earlier.
Furthermore, according to Kicker, Malli is ranked 19th amongst all midfielders with an average rating of 3.2 while Calhanoglu is a paltry 85th of 89 players with a 3.98! The Squawka player comparison matrix is actually pretty favourable to Hakan, who should get credit for creating a lot of chances. The big caveat there is that many of those chances are set-pieces that artificially inflate his numbers, and the season rankings are probably still very kind to the 22-year-old, ranking him 18th among all Bundesliga midfielders.
The biggest reason why Fatih Terim should take Malli over Calhanoglu is shooting. Observe the shot accuracy of Malli, followed by Hakan C.
9. Alfred Finnbogason – Augsburg/Iceland probably wouldn’t be anyone’s first choice when selecting a striker, but the 27-year-old has been a revelation for FCA since joining in the winter from Real Sociedad, by way of Olympiacos. The journeyman has basically saved FCA’s season with seven goals; all since 28th February, in 950 minutes, albeit on an ungodly 27% conversion rate. That is some lethal stuff!
He is also a work-horse, covering twelve kilometers against Wolfsburg, and constantly pressing defenders. With the new format, there is an outside shot that Iceland – with him, Eidur Gudjohnsen (aka this tournament’s Claudio Pizarro at 37 years of age) and Gylfi Sigurdsson (who Premier League fans are very familiar with), could finish ahead of Hungary and progress as one of the four best third-place teams. They just might if Finnbogason keeps up his form.
10. Roman Neustädter – Russia – Schalke. The 28-year-old centre-back is switching to Russia’s squad just in time for the tournament after getting the all clear signs from the officials earlier this week! Optimists would call it a coup for Russia, as they are obtaining a strong and versatile defender at 190 cm and 83 kg, who is also a 90%-rated passer. He has made 33 appearances for Schalke this year alongside new Liverpool CB Joel Matip.
The pessimists would say that Roman was ranked as the 65 best (out of 75) defender in the league, despite playing alongside one of the elite defenders in Matip and behind a great young CDM like Leon Goretzka. They would probably cite this awful lapse of judgment against Hamburg as evidence.
While those are all fair and valid points, the Russian squad isn’t exactly full of great veteran defenders with top league experience, as they have mostly relied on the Berezutskii brothers of CSKA Moscow for as long as anyone can remember. Neustädter will definitely be tested in a group featuring some speedy forwards – Slovakia’s Marek Hamsik, Wales’ Gareth Bale and England’s Jamie Vardy to name a few. Whatever the outcome, it is a match-up that is sure to be fascinating!
11. Jonas Hector – Germany and Cologne – LB
Last but not least, a German representative. Jonas Hector has long been a great left-back for Cologne and at 25, he is primed for a move, most probably to Liverpool, who are looking to hit the Bundesliga upgrade button on Alberto Moreno, much like they did with Mignolet and Loris Karius.
Hector is a product of the famous Cologne youth academy that has churned out stars like Lukas Podolski and great goalkeepers like Ron-Robert Zieler and Timo Horn. He is an excellent, technically gifted two-way player, confident in tackling and starting quick counters.
While Kicker only rates him as the 24th best defender, perhaps due to a rating system that prioritizes team defense, Squawka ranks him in the top 10 of all Bundesliga defenders, and Whoscored has him as the best rated LB in the league.
The really neat statistic is that Hector has collected a staggering 53 key passes, which ranks him NINTH among all Bundesliga players!
He has already made twelve appearances for Germany, and will almost definitely start for Joachim Löw, given the recent matches. With the NationalMannschaft among the favourites to win the whole tournament in France, expect to see a lot of Hector!
Here is thus our final lineup for the dark horse Bundesliga EURO XI
Featured Image: All rights reserved by laurent lairys
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