Kevin Stoger is arguably one of the biggest sleeper options when it comes to players who will be available for free this summer based on the eye test and when you look at the data to see what he can offer you.
At 30 years old this season has been the season for Stoger and the reason he is first out on this site for me is talent is talent. We could focus on age, and age is a factor when clubs consider potential signings or when they consider offering an existing player a new deal but there have been many good and great players who have really come alive in their late 20’s and early 30’s and to totally neglect that on the basis of what the football world tells us we should want in my mind is ridiculous. Good players come in all shapes, sizes and ages.
PROFILE
Kevin Stoger
Age: 30 (27 Aug 1998)
Nationality: Austrian (Capped at youth levels up to u21)
Current Club: Bochum (Currently 15th in Bundesliga, Germany)
Position: Central Midfielder (Shirt Number 7)
Contract Expires: June 2024
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
Stogers footballing history started in the youth system in Austria in his home city of Steyr before moving to Ried where his older brother Pascal played. 2 years at Ried seen Stoger enter the Austrian youth national team and he quickly moved to Germany to join Die Roten (The reds) or more commonly knows as VFB Stuttgart. At Stuttgart Stoger begun his pro career playing in the second team system which in Stuggarts case meant 3. Liga in Germany and it would be safe to say that from 2010/11 season until 2018/2019 wasn’t a period that would go down in the history books, formative but with a few moves that seen him join Kaiserslautern, Paderborn and Bochum there were flashes of the player we have seen this season but the consistency was lacking.
Then in 2018/2019 a move to newly promoted Bundelsiga 2 Champions Fortuna Dusseldorf landed the player we have seen this season started to really find his feet. Stoger, along with the Belgian duo Dodi Lukebakio and Benito Raman were key figures in taking a newly promoted Fortuna to a highly respectable 10th place in the Bundesliga. Stogers creative passing from midfield giving plenty of opportunities to the attackers. However the joy wasn’t to last long with the Belgian duo departing and the replacements the following season not proving to be anywhere near the standard that had brought relative success in 18/19 and unfortunately Dusseldorf were relegated and Mainz too that opportunity to snap up the creative talents of Stoger for the 20/21 season and it’s difficult for me to say why the first season at Mainz didn’t quite work, possibly a hangover from the relegation the previous year or a misunderstanding in terms of what Mainz wanted from Stoger and what his skillset is but it was a patchy season over 19 Bundesliga appearances, many of those from the bench and that situation carried on into 21/22 with 23 appearances in the Bundesliga and an average of just over 17mins per game in that time. Something needed to give and give it would.
One of his previous clubs Vfl Bochum would pick up Stoger for free, in turn it brought out a freedom in him because for me looking back at footage it appears to have been the moment where the penny dropped for him as person and as a player. The talent had always been there but the time, place, people and maybe even the desire hadn’t aligned in the way it did in 18/19 and I’ll say this often through the reports I do. Having the right people is huge at the highest level because you need trust in one another and while players don’t need to be best buddies they do need to respect that as a unit the only true way to achieve the teams goals is to be together as a unit.
Now I say that but the start at Bochum for Stoger was interesting, Bochum sacked their manager early doors, brought in a caretaker Heiko Butscher who was replaced by Thomas Letsch who funnily enough this season was then replaced by Heiko Butscher. Stoger however had found a place that has worked for him and the games have come regularly with 65 appearances over the last 2 season to date and the skillset he has in his locker has been on show with a real positive effect for a struggling team.
Role at Bochum:
His role at Bochum has changed a bit to often for my own liking with them trying various systems over the past 18 months, but for the most part you would find him on the left of a 3 man central midfield or playing centrally in the 3 attacking roles behind the striker in a 4231. There have been occasions where he played right side of the 3 in a 352 but for me I think you get the best of him when he is playing in pockets on the left side of a central 3 in a 433 setup with pace around him. I suspect like most creative players his ideal role would be as the 10 in any system.
I won’t be disrespectful and downplay his team mates but Bochum are where they are in the table because they lack quality at both ends of the pitch. They are 17 of 18 defensively with 62 goals conceded, and 37 goals scored which places them joint 13th in the Bundesliga. Stogers 15 goal contributions (7 goals and 8 assists) means he has been involved in over 40% of Bochums goals and is 8 ahead of the next player Takuma Asano with 7 contributions (6 goals and 1 assist). Looking at the Sofascore ratings Bochum only have 3 players ranking in the above average zone and Stoger is top of the pile with a 7.60 average over the season which places him 9th in their Bundesliga rankings.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Stoger is a creator, fearless creation which can be considered a strength and a weakness but personally I love watching a midfielder who identifies the opening and sends the ball with quality. I believe that having that sort of player in your team means your attackers should not hesitate to make a move when they see this type of player on the ball because he’ll try and find them 9 times out of 10, and it’s then on them as attackers to make it work.
The left foot of Stoger is a thing of beauty, with all the lovely little nuances in that foot to open up play. He can strike with power, bend a ball with the inside and outside of the foot and make it look effortless and he can get a lovely weight on the ball when he’s playing it ahead of someone, allowing them to move on to it in stride and make the next action count without having to re-adjust.
He is also not afraid to shoot and again this could be viewed a strength and a weakness and I’ll break some bits down in the stats element below.
What I like is this isn’t a player playing for Bayern Munich or Bayer Leverkusen who dominate games. This is a player fighting to keep Bochum afloat in the Bundesliga. A team currently sat 2 points above the relegation playoff position and very much in danger with 2 very different fixtures left on the board: Union Berlin (A) and Leverkusen (H).
In terms of work rate Stoger will put in the yards and for anyone who has read a previous piece I done on Stoger and his performance in a 3-2 win of Bayern Munich his work rate was every bit as good as the creative elements. Now I’m not saying he’s going to boss the middle of the pitch, win all the 50/50s but he won’t shy away from putting in the yards and pressing players to disrupt an opposition who are in possession or to break the play when an opponent is looking for fast transition.
I feel positionally he’s at his best when Bochum have controlled possession and he gets the time to find the holes between the lines, something he does really well especially on the left side and it’s from there where I feel he is a threat with that left foot. He brings the ball from the left infield and curls the ball from left to right in behind the defenders. It’s effective because the quality and pace is good on the delivery so it forces defenders to look at their own goal and if the runner times it well he has a clear advantage against a back peddling defender.
Weaknesses, well as above some of the things I see as strengths others would view as weaknesses. Stoger could be viewed as attempting too many passes that break lines and to eager to move the ball into the final third, especially given Bochum don’t have an attackers who are consistent infront of goal and it’s his willingness to attempt those balls in the opposition half that bring his overall passing accuracy down. His accuracy in his own half is above 90% so it depends on what you value and unfortunately as I’ve alluded to above the players moving on to his passes aren’t of the highest quality so a chunk of his good passes into dangerous zones go unrewarded and stats wise are deemed as incomplete passes.
His right foot isn’t a patch on his left foot but like most modern players he is capable with it without being outstanding.
Aerially he’s not the man for those battles standing at 175cm and he’s not lightning fast but as you will see in the Hoffenheim highlights below he has the awareness to move into good spaces and has enough speed over 5/10 yards to make the most of the space. Defensively he looks to be part of a double act and pinch balls away from opponents by coming in from the blindside of a player as they try to turn away from the defender who has faced them up.
Direct Free Kicks – This saddens me a little because the video I’m featuring below is from the last set of game fixtures and he scores a free kick that demonstrates his ability to strike a ball, but it’s his only goal from a free kick this season. He has the tools, just needs to work on it a little more.
Highlight 1
This is just a very brief highlight that to me sums up what I like about Stoger and it’s great timing for me that it’s from this weeks game fixtures vs Hoffenheim.
7 seconds – The Free Kick…..
I’m not 100% sure on the wall but the goalie was never getting anywhere near that.
28 seconds – The run, the pass, the follow up and the finish……
This goal here is where Stoger has really stood out for me this season. The run on the inside of his own teammate delays the opponent seeing him and tracking the run, the threat of the shot is there and to be honest I had him hitting this first time all day but he chooses to weight a ball ahead of Broschinski. It’s not an easy one for Broschinki but the weight on the ball should allow him to take it and shoot, heavy first touch takes him wide but he gets a shot on target and Stoger stays in the space between the 2 defenders that gives him the easiest of finishes when the ball comes back to him.
HIGHLIGHT 2
Arguably one of the shocks of the season was Bochum beating Bayern 3-2 and this video doesn’t do Stoger justice because his performance in this game was far more than the goal and assist he registered. He was strong on both sides of the game both in his defensive and attacking output.
25 seconds – The Assist
This wasn’t the only threatening ball he delivered in this game but this is the one that got an end product. When you watch this look at the last couple of yards the ball travels and you’ll see it hits it’s peak arc late on and dips down suddenly. It’s really a fantastic cross that as a defender is so hard to read, you can slow the video down in the Youtube settings to 0.75 speed and it makes it a bit easier to see that subtle movement of the ball late on and the pace means it just needs someone who can direct it on target.
34 seconds – The Penalty
Now this isn’t the greatest penalty but the technique is sound enough, placement is ok because it allows for a margin of error as long as the power is good and that’s what gets the job done in this case. You also have to account for the fact this penalty is in essence to win the game. Bochum are 2-1 up and Bayern are down to 10 men. Up against Neuer who is still one of the best in the business and if you score you are giving yourself a wonderful chance of 3 points, and 3 points they got.
The Stats Game (Figures taken from Wyscout)
The chart above shows where Stoger sits in the key metrics for his role in the Bundesliga and I think is fair representation of the player described up to now. In the top percentile for Passes in the final third (P3/90), Key Passes per 90mins (KP/90) and Recoveries per 90mins (REC/90). We know he wants to create and we know he’s willing to work for the team.
Now lets looks at what the actual numbers look like and we’ll start in the key area for a player who is going to look to unlock the game.
Kevin Stoger Heatmap (23/24):
Key Stats:
Goals: 8 (4 penalties) from an xG of 6.26
Assists: 9 from an xA of 10.26
Now instead of boring you with loads of numbers lets compare Stoger to some of the best midfield talents in the Bundesliga. Florian Wirtz (Leverkusen), Julian Brandt (Dortmund) and Jamal Musiala (Bayern) across the 5 key areas (Base Level / Defensive / Attacking / Passing / Key Passing):
Base Stats:
Defensive Stats: Standout here is to be expected given Bochum are at the lower end but the 8.46 successful defensive actions is a real positive along with the 4.48 interceptions (per 90 mins).
Attacking Stats: While behind Wirtz and Musiala the successful attacking actions being on par with Brandt and the the 43.12% crossing accuracy are impressive in this area.
Passing Stats: While the 72.26% passing accuracy is behind the rest the 21.64 forward passes per 90 shows that Stoger is all about trying to get Bochum up the pitch
Key Passing Stats: Like above the 11.33 passes into the final third and 6.57 into the penalty area per 90mins add another layer to why Stoger is a player who you look to for creativity because he’s brave enough to make passes that a lot of midfielders nowadays shy away from, preferring to preserve their stats.
Overall I’m not saying Kevin Stoger is a better player than any of the above because he’s not and the stats in a lot of areas back that up and these are quality players I have compared him against. Wirtz for me, sky is the limit, Musiala is the same and Brandt for my money is under valued by many.
All 4 of these players play for very different teams and have varied roles but the final third is where you want them playing the game. Stoger plays for a team who has very different expectations but it’s demonstration that his stats stand up alongside some of the best in the Bundesliga. There are no areas marked in red (bar headed goals) where he statistically falls well below the players he is compared with and when you index him against players in the Bundesliga for constructing the play from midfield he ranks highly in many areas.
Criticisms can be levelled and it’s right to question elements of what he does. When you look through it could be easy to say his passing accuracy doesn’t meet the benchmark that many teams look for today of around 80% overall, but then you see that a player playing for Bochum who are fighting to stay afloat in the Bundesliga is 2nd in passes made behind Wirtz and is attempting on average 6 more forward passes per 90mins than Wirtz then for me it demonstrates how hard he is trying to help Bochum achieve the goal of survival, without him I’d say Bochum would already be sunk.
Personal Life:
Unlike many players who have lives plastered all over all forms of social media Stogers life outside of football appears to be fairly unknown. Most of his pictures are based on his football with a few images of him relaxing and a profile image with what I’m assuming is his partner, but no signs of any controversy that I can see on a quick look which means no major red flags for any clubs who choose to look in his direction this summer.
Instagram: Kevin Stöger (@kevinstoeger22) • Instagram photos and videos
The Future:
At 30 Stoger has a choice to make because whilst I won’t discriminate based upon age, many clubs will and so this is likely to be his last chance to get a 3 year+ deal and in that time the question might be what does he want from that final few years where a good contract is on offer. Union Berlin made an offer for him back in January that was rejected by Bochum due to how vital he is and they hoped he’d agree a new deal. Augsburg are reportedly in the hunt as well but I think Stoger should be looking above those teams.
Personally I’d like to see Stoger in a team who have more attacking options and a more potent threat, with players who have pace and good movement ahead of him to make the most of the passes he can provide. That team would want to have someone a bit bigger in beside him as part of a 2 or 3 to ensure a balance aerially and a player who will get ahead of him down the outside to open up more spaces for him in the final third. If you can create space and give him that time to scan for the forward runs and pick his pass then you are going to get some high quality chances for your attackers.
Final Thoughts on Kevin Stoger:
Kevin Stoger is a player who some clubs won’t value because they will see some stats that don’t meet the base criteria like his passing at 71% with some so obsessed by retaining the ball that they forget that to win games you need to score goals.
I see a player who could still have small refinements made in that area, but more importantly who will give you a good hard shift and who will give fans something to be excited about when he opens up the play on that left foot. Attackers who have any positional sense will love seeing him get on the ball so they can move knowing that he’s looking to find them quickly with a high quality delivery. Last but not least because he had a bit of mixed bag through his early to mid 20s he’s in some ways under-exposed for a player of his age which could be a benefit because the brain for the game is there and physically he’s still got mileage left in him.
I’d happily have him in my team based on what I’ve seen this season because lets be honest who doesn’t enjoy having a maestro in midfield.
Shameless Self Promotion:
Thanks for reading and my thanks to everyone who has followed on socials and supported me from the off. It is greatly appreciated. If you have enjoyed this content then please consider dropping a comment, or contacting me via the contact page or share the site link with anyone who might enjoy it.
RH
[…] Kevin Stöger – The Midfield Maestro Of Bochum – Football Talent Reports […]