Donyell Malen, the man who played himself from unwanted to decisive goal-getter — Volume 2, Issue #23
There are not many, if any, who have had a more influential personal turnaround at a club this season than Donyell Malen.
The feeling of not being wanted isn't uncommon for Donyell Malen.
While making his way through the Arsenal youth system, opportunities to feature in the first team were minimal compared to Reiss Nelson and Jeff Reine-Adélaïde due to an apparent overweight issue, eventually leading to a move away.
His talent, as he would go on to show during three quite wonderful years at PSV, is there. However, the feeling has always been one of wanting more.
Throughout his time at Dortmund, he has had his critics. Bought to replace the attacking burden of Jadon Sancho as well as to dovetail and learn off the high-octane style of the soon-to-depart Erling Haaland; at the time, it was seen as a near-improbable task for any young attacker. But such lofty expectations only created the demand for a player he wasn't—and hadn't become.
In fact, that frustration turned into a gradual acceptance that he potentially wasn't the footballer that Dortmund expected nor the place Malen craved. And Dortmund and Malen were actively seeking moves away from each other over this year’s winter window.
A swap deal with Manchester United that would see Sancho return to Dortmund and Malen go the other way was proposed but didn't come to fruition.
Sancho did, in fact, come back, but Malen stayed. And the impact the former was meant to have on Dortmund’s attempt to resurrect a respectable season has been produced by the latter.
Snacho’s re-arrival, just like the breakthrough into the senior team of Samuel Bamba and the continual development of Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, was meant to, at the very least, pose a substantial threat—and even displace Malen—but all it has done is spur the Dutchman.
The goals, although spread out—the last scoring in back-to-back games at the start of the season—are a byproduct of what is a very confident individual in his game right now.
Operating off either wing, but preferably the right, he’s carrying the ball with intent and depth more than ever since his days in the Eredivisie.
Nonetheless, his goals are what keep him in the team and his side’s Champions League ambitions in the Bundesliga afloat, with his 0.63 non-penalty goals per 90 ranking him in the top 1 percentile in Europe’s major leagues, according to Fbref.
And in Eindhoven on Tuesday night, he showed those who know him best that the newfound confidence he is playing with is anything but a considerable purple patch.
Scoring against Freiburg at home and Köln should be the standard, not a revelation for a Dortmund attacker. However, finishing, albeit with the aid of a deflection, but that shouldn't discredit the purity behind the strike against his former side, PSV—who have been all-conquering in their league this season—was just another reminder to those neutrals who aren’t aware of the conviction and responsibility he has garnered in this Dortmund side, on Europe’s biggest stage.
Back at Westfalenstadion on Sunday afternoon, his form did not differ. When Dortmund needed him again, he rose. A struggling Hoffenheim’s lead was wiped by, you know who.
Still, Dortmund would end up losing that game 3-2. So the extent of Malen’s power, still shows have its limits.
That equaliser made it 12 in all competitions this season—the most for him in a Dortmund shirt in a single campaign and still going.
A graph released by the Bundesliga shows he is the most efficient striker in unlikely scenarios—four goals from an xG of 1.03, taking his xEfficiency of 2.97.
On a side with not much to shout about this season, the shift in importance in Malen’s season deserves plaudits, at the very least.