Tom Rothe: Borussia Dortmund wonderkid making big impact on loan with Holstein Kiel
By Eli Brand
Tom Rothe’s attacking abilities
Tom Rothe is a locked-in starter for Holstein Kiel, who are currently fourth in the 2. Bundesliga standings and in the promotion hunt. The young left-back was firmly involved against Schalke recently, with his shot off the post setting up a goal and an early ground cross bending around multiple defenders for another goal.
Rothe’s impact hasn’t been limited to just against Borussia Dortmund’s arch-rivals. The towering full-back has shown some flashy dribbling and blistering pace in addition to his two goals and three assists in his first nine starts in the 2. Bundesliga. His attacking output has been beyond impressive, even when considering that he is playing as a wing-back in a 3-5-2 formation.
Rothe boasts an impressive 2.56 shot creating actions per 90 and .27 npxG + xAG per 90. He may be in a lower league and have small sample size, but his expected metrics are very much in line with several elite full-backs.
Rothe is also a goal threat at .11 xG per 90, which ranks in the top 4% of full-backs. While his .22 goals per 90 also puts him in the top 1% of full-backs for now. If he continues on a similar trajectory, there is no doubt that he could make an impact in the BVB first-team after the end of his loan spell.