The Bundesliga is populated with some amazing players, apart from the brilliance of the stars at show at Munich and Dortmund, the Bundesliga has a lot of great young players coming out form the various clubs all across the league. The next set of German stars are already on their way to greatness and one such player who has caught the eye of quite a few top clubs is Christoph Kramer, who recently scored a sensational own goal from 35 yards out against Borussia Dortmund.
Most of us would remember Kramer from the 2014 World Cup final when he was knocked out by Argentina’s Garay and unfortunately substituted in the first half, he couldn’t remember which day it was after the knock. Kramer plays as a box to box midfielder and currently is on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach from Bayer Leverkusen.
He is on a two year loan and is halfway through his loan deal, his contract expires at the end of his current loan spell and Bayer would be looking to cash in on him during the January transfer window or risk losing him on a free next summer.
Career history
The 23 year old was signed up by Bayer Leverkusen at the age of 9 but he was cut out from the youth squad because of a lack of height. After a couple of years at Fortuna Dusseldorf, he was brought back to Leverkusen in 2008. He signed his first senior contract in 2010 and was sent to Bayer Leverkusen II for that season where he won promotion, before being sent to VFL Bochum for 2 more years to play in the Bundesliga 2.
After his spell with Bochum, Kramer was loaned to Monchengladbach in 2013, at the end of the season, his performances had impressed Joachim Loew, who called him up for the German Squad preparing for the World cup, and he won his first cap on 8th May 2014 and was ultimately taken into the squad travelling to Brazil.
He made one appearance in the round of 16 match against Algeria when he came on in extra time and then started the final, in place of Sami Khedira but could not complete the game as he had to be substituted in the first half after a collision with Ezequiel Garay.
Playing Style
Kramer is a proper box to box midfielder and is seem just as much in his own penalty box as he is in the opponents. Kramer isn’t the toughest midfielder around and that is something which is a bit of a weakness for the German international.
Last season he won only 32% of all tackles and won only 55% of all headed duels while at Borussia Monchengladbach, that is something he would need to work on to become a formidable box to box midfielder. However, he only made 1 defensive error in the entire Bundesliga season last year, though he had only 5 defensive actions, which state that he does not do as much defensive work as a complete defensive midfielder would.
His passing accuracy is something that is right on top, last season, he had a passing accuracy of 88% while playing for Monchengladbach and has a shot accuracy of 57% from which he scored 3 goals. (All stats Squawka.com)
Possible future destination
Kramer has a huge decision to make about his future, there is talk about Borussia Monchengladbach bidding £12 million to sign the German during the January transfer window but Arsenal and Manchester United both seem to be lining up bids for the German. He could end up moving on a free in the summer, would he be willing to stay in Germany or move abroad? That would only be clear in the coming months.