Eight years ago, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang took out a Sharpie and scribed his name with indelible ink into Bundesliga folklore.
A 55-minute debut hat-trick in Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 thumping of Augsburg was certainly a sign of things to come, a burning blur of yellow-and-black announcing himself on German soil in quite spectacular style.
But if BVB supporters were expecting a similar impact from another spring-heeled wide-forward who arrived at the Signal Iduna Park amid lofty expectations and a sizeable transfer fee, they would have been disappointed.
Nine games into his Dortmund career, Donyell Malen is yet to get off the mark.
And another anonymous performance in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to a struggling Borussia Monchengladbach side – Dortmund and Malen drawing a blank in the absence of injured talisman Erling Haaland – has raised further concerns about a man who was supposed to fill a Jadon Sancho-shaped void in the Schwarzgelben frontline.
Will Donyell Malen get going for Borussia Dortmund?
“That two leaders like (Marco) Reus and Haaland were missing should not be an excuse. Dortmund have plenty of excellent players, with whom they should have created more than they did (against Gladbach),” fumed the always outspoken Lothar Matthaus, the 1990 Ballon D’Or winner taking aim at a misfiring £30 million frontman (VI).
“Haaland cannot just be replaced but showing so little… You would expect something more from the newcomer Malen, especially. So far, I am very disappointed in him. Against Gladbach he barely ran past an opponent, he didn’t show much offensively.
“There was no attacking plan, that’s the idea I got. You must expect more from a title contender.”
Dortmund, like Matthaus, certainly expected more from Malen, the former PSV captain who plundered 27 goals last season before forming a formidable understanding with Memphis Depay at Euro 2020.
Malen, like almost every exciting young forward in European football, was linked with a move to Liverpool over the summer and the reaction following his big-money switch to Dortmund was as predictable as it was irate.
Why, the Liverpool fans wondered, were the deposed Premier League champions not stumping up for a man who’s speed, skill and versatility appeared to make him a perfect fit for Jurgen Klopp’s frontline?
Well, maybe Liverpool saw something Dortmund didn’t.
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