If Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski are the Bundesliga’s A-list performers, then the formidable creative talents of Müller, Coman, Sancho, Reyna et al hold the limo doors open for them en route to the red carpet. Wolfsburg’s Wout Weghorst and Frankfurt’s André Silva, however, have similarly stellar goalscoring records this season without such first-class service.
That Wolfsburg and Frankfurt – currently third and fourth in the Bundesliga – are challenging for Champions League places is largely due to their star strikers. Of course, both teams possess other luminaries – particularly Frankfurt, whose supporting cast of Daichi Kamada, Filip Kostić and latterly Luka Jovic quickens the pulse of the neutral. But it is Silva and Weghorst who have made each stable mid-tabler capable of going toe-to-toe with Bayern, Leipzig and Dortmund.
Cast aside by AC Milan after an unhappy three-year stay, it looked as though Silva’s prodigious talent might go unfulfilled when he arrived at Frankfurt in 2019. But nurtured by the steady, trusting management of Adi Hutter, the 25 year-old now looks capable of reaching the highest levels of the game.
The Portuguese forward moves across the turf powerfully but lightly, like a 100m sprinter in full flight. Tall, slim and elegantly two-footed, he has 25 goals in 29 league games since the post-lockdown restart. Last week’s strike at Hoffenheim underlined his red-hot form, as Silva finished a wonderful Frankfurt counter – a worthy goal of the season contender – with his signature balance and poise.
If Silva looks every inch the thoroughbred, Wout Weghorst is the gnarled veteran who slogs through heavy going. A blur of arms and legs, the gangly forward is hardly elegant – but hugely effective. Even when the Dutchman doesn’t score, opposition defenders emerge from the battle bloodied and bruised.
While Weghorst has been a regular scorer for several seasons – with 38 goals across the last two campaigns for Wolfsburg and previously 32 in two years at AZ Alkmaar – he now appears to be approaching mastery of his craft. He has 14 in 20 this term despite a sluggish start, and has assumed a talismanic quality – on his rare bad days, the Wolves look bereft. If any of the Bundesliga’s top eight are one-man teams, it is surely Wolfsburg.
That Wolfsburg and Frankfurt have risen to their lofty positions is of course closely linked to the recent travails of Dortmund, Leverkusen and – to a lesser extent – Leipzig. And the form of Silva and Weghorst serves to expose these rivals’ failings all the more starkly. Leipzig and Leverkusen, for all their often glorious passing football, lack a convincing forward who can consistently convert their midfield dominance into the more useful footballing currency of goals. Conversely, Dortmund, have almost too many attacking riches, but cannot find a system which brings the best out of these – whereas Frankfurt and Wolfsburg are organised perfectly around the strengths of their strikers.
What next for these two lethal finishers? In the short-term, Königsklasse football next season looks a more likely prospect for Frankfurt than Wolfsburg, such is the strength and form of the Eagles’ squad. But even if neither makes it with the current employers, it would be hard to imagine next year’s Champions League including neither Silva nor Weghorst.
Image: Silesia711, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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