In England there is an archetypal number 9, the player who is always in the right place at the right time, getting on the end of scrappy chances, bullying defenders, winning headers and finishing off anything gracious enough to land at his feet. Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Chelsea Diego Costa seem to be only ones who currently fit this description. But there is one other man in Europe standing at 6’5 who is doing all these things with relative ease. He’s got a great name too. He is Wolfsburg’s Bas Dost.
We may only be two months in but 2015 is really shaping up to Mr. Dost’s year in the spotlight. The 25 year old has banged in 12goals from his 14 shots on target in his last 7 Bundesliga games. If we assume his purple patch continues, he’ll score 86% of the time and that is a truly frightening prospect. The goal scoring phenomenon is usually associated with Ballon D’or stalwarts; Messi and Ronaldo, but with 13 goals in 819 minutes Dost is averaging a goal every 63 minutes and that is the best ever Bundesliga strike rate.
It would be unfair to lavish all the praise on the frontman when the supporting cast has been equally influential especially Belgian star Kevin De Bruyne. The blonde midfielder has been on fire this season, providing one of the individual performances of the year in the 4-1 trashing of league leaders Bayern Munich. He has constantly laid it on a plate for Dost this season and has provided 15 assists all season, matched only by Cesc Fabregas in Europe.
Bas Dost may be a flash in the pan- even though his 32 goals in 34 appearances for Heerenveen in the 2011/12 season suggests otherwise-or he may maintain this form for years to come like other late bloomers such as Didier Drogba and Teddy Sheringham.
Let’s sit back and enjoy some fine traditional striking.
All statistics from Squawka and Espn
Photo Credit: Sky Sports