Name: Moritz Leitner
Club: Stuttgart (on loan from Borussia Dortmund)
Nationality: German
Position: Midfielder
Who is he?
A native of Munich, the Bavarian youngster started his career at the city’s second club TSV 1860 Munich. From the age of six until he made his professional debut in the German Cup in August 2010, he spent 11 years at his home club.
However with 1860 Munich in financial trouble and Borussia Dortmund showing strong interest, by January 2011 he was on his way to West Germany to link up with the team that would go on to win the Championship.
However, he was immediately loaned out to FC Augsburg who he helped gain promotion to the Bundesliga.
Achievements
By the start of the following season, he was back in Borussia Dortmund’s first team squad and despite the talent around him, he managed to make 24 appearances in all competitions for Jurgen Klopp’s side. That included appearances in the Champions League but all those Bundesliga, Cup and European appearances only amounted to four starts.
But last season he made more appearances as Dortmund reached the Champions League final, although most of his 30 appearances were in the league as the likes of Mario Gotze, Ilkay Gundogan and Sven Bender remained ahead of him in the midfield pecking order.
Internationally, Leitner has been recognised at international level and is a Germany U21 cap. But because of his Austrian mother he did represent Austria on one occasion at U17 level before switching to Germany at U19.
Unless it becomes near impossible to break into the Germany senior team, he is unlikely to switch to Austria once his underage career ends.
Attributes
An intelligent midfielder, he can excel as a deep-lying playmaker where he can control proceedings due to his good positional sense, technical ability and composed passing.
Despite making very few starts, Leitner made it into the Top 40 Bundesliga players when it came to pass completion rates. He completed 83 per cent of his passes, which puts him comfortably in the mix alongside his team-mates in what is a primarily counter-attacking team.
He also made two assists in the Bundesliga.
Physically, he is on the shorter side of the scale, which sees him use his technical attributes and excellent ball control rather than physique.
Potential
Leitner is valued at Dortmund but at nowhere near the same level as the likes of Marco Reus, Ilkay Gundogan or Mario Gotze (when he was still at the club). Thus the 20-year-old has not been cut loose but he has swapped the Westfalenstadion for Stuttgart’s Mercedes-Benz Arena on a two-year loan deal which expires in June 2015. The loan deal also meant that Leitner’s Dortmund contract was extended to 2017.
It is an opportunity to get a run of regular first team action in the Bundesliga. If he impresses there is a possibility that he could be viewed as a potential regular once he returns to Dortmund. Otherwise it is a chance for him to advertise himself to Stuttgart and other German clubs, as well as Germany manager Joachim Low for a spot in a congested Mannschaft midfield.
