Albion Analytics: Mahmoud Dahoud

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What does our new Germany international add to our midfield?

Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2023-07-15T06:00:00Z

Mahmoud Dahoud joined Albion after his contract ended with Borussia Dortmund.

Albion's first signing of the summer transfer window was Mahmoud Dahoud on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund.

“I’m excited to have Mahmoud in my team,” said head coach Roberto De Zerbi. “I wanted him when I was at Sassuolo and I’m sure he is going to be a top player for us.”

Dahoud was the first Syrian-born player in the Bundesliga when he appeared as a late substitute for Borussia Monchengladbach in a 3-1 over Borussia Dortmund — who he would later join — in April 2015, aged 19 years, 3 months and 10 days.

Dahoud has spent the past six seasons at Dortmund, winning the German cup in 2020/21 and German Supercup in 2019/20, as well as finishing Bundesliga runners-up three times (2018/19, 2019/20 and 2022/23) behind Bayern Munich. In that time, he has played over 2,000 minutes at both central midfield as well as defensive midfield, with Dortmund often playing a 4-1-4-1 that deploys a defensive midfielder behind two free eights.

The midfielder has had shoulder injuries and surgery over the past two campaigns and the 27-year-old has only played more than 50% of league minutes in one of his six seasons at Dortmund. His 2021/22 season at Dortmund shows that, if he can maintain his fitness, he can seriously perform.

That season, his 6.3 progressive passes per 90 minutes were the second-most of any Dortmund player, meanwhile he topped the charts in all competitions for through balls (17) and ranked third for switches of play (18) as well as dribble success rate (63.4% —26/41). He sat fourth for ball recoveries (186), shot-creating actions in open-play (53) and tackles (also 53), with identical numbers in those metrics underlining his all-round ability.

Perhaps the most exciting element of Dahoud’s game is his eye for the spectacular. Four of his 11 Bundesliga goals have been from outside the box, with 70% of all his shots being from that distance.

His first Champions League goal — an equaliser against Sevilla in the round of 16 away-leg win — was a stunner from distance too, against an opposition who had six consecutive clean sheets prior to that game.

The two-cap Germany international has 30 Champions League appearances in his career and Dortmund have been significantly better with him than without him. They have won exactly half (10 out of 20) games when Dahoud has appeared, superior to the 34.6% win rate without him, and Dortmund’s goals/game is unsurprisingly better too (1.7 vs 1.3).

Arguably the standout game of Dahoud’s Champions League career was in a 5-0 group stage home win over Besiktas in December 2021, playing alongside Jude Bellingham as a free eight in the 4-1-4-1. He made three assists that night, including winning a penalty for Dortmund’s second goal, before setting up Marco Reus for the third and Erling Haaland for the fifth goal. In that game, Dahoud recorded 79 touches, taking the most final-third touches (41) and recording the most shot-creating actions of any Dortmund player (10), also attempting the most crosses (5).

Dahoud has only assisted Siman Kurt (9) more times than Haaland (5) in his career, with those two of nine different players that he has provided at least 3 assists for — his through ball speciality means he is equally adept at launching transitions from deep for early runners or splitting a more organised defence.