He plays, he shoots, he scores.
When talking about 1.FC Nürnberg’s latest star, 21-year-old Josip Drmić, hundreds of words could be written, but eventually, all would boil down to the six words written above.
Josip Drmić only arrived in Nürnberg at the start of the season – signed for €2.2m from Swiss outfit FC Zürich – and many wondered who that young player was and whether Nürnberg actually needed him. Especially since they had already picked up Dortmund’s Daniel Ginzcek. Not much was made of Drmić’s move to Nürnberg – even though his fee alone should have made everyone sit up and take notice. For the first time since 2007, Nürnberg spent more than two million Euros on one player – the last one being Greek Hero Angelos Charisteas. Because they spent that much on an unproven 20-year-old, manager Bader and then-coach Wiesinger clearly believed in his great potential – and Drmić hasn’t looked back since.
From day one, Drmić has been involved. In his first game, he grabbed an assist – playing in Ginczek to secure a point for Nürnberg. In his second game, against Hertha BSC, he found the back of the net for the first time. Right now, he is competing with Mario Mandžukić for the golden boot. With 16 goals in 27 games, he is on par with the likes of Robert Lewandowski and just one behind the Bayern striker. Because that alone is not impressive enough, he has scored 16 goals in a team struggling to score goals (last season’s top scorer was centre-back Nilsson with six goals). Drmić has come up with 47% of Nürnberg’s goals so far. 56%, if assists were to be included. Without him, they would be even deeper in the relegation struggle than they already are. And there is even more. With 16 goals, Drmić has already played the third best goal scoring campaign of any Nürnberg player in their history. Again, as a 21-year-old, in his first season of German top flight football.
You don’t even have to see him play to know that he is having an outstanding season. He has operated on four different positions already throughout the campaign: right wing, left wing, second striker and lone striker – succeeding in all four. Drmić himself sees himself as a central striker. Primarily a right footed player, he is confident enough to finish and score with his left foot as well, managing six goals with his weaker foot up until now. Drmić’s main strengths are without a doubt his ability to finish and the timing of his runs. Combine that with his pace and directness and you get a decent package. His weaknesses seem to be heading, physical strength and a tendency to drift in and out of games.
Whether Drmić is ready for a club like Arsenal is not for us to decide nor even possible to predict. Much higher standards, different league and new surroundings. Much more accomplished players have failed to make the jump. Furthermore, he would not be the world class striker everyone is crying out for either – at least not yet.
What can be said though, is that Josip Drmić is having one hell of a season and he would fit the bill. His age, his style of play, his versatility as well as his price tag make him a very attractive target. If reports are to be believed, Arsenal have already approached the club in an effort to snap him up. Drmić himself did his best to further speculation last night – by stating: “I don’t know what’s coming next. Every boy dreams of playing for Arsenal.” Nürnberg however find themselves in a tricky spot. If the club goes down, he will go for pennies – between €3m and €5m, depending on who you want to believe. If the club stays up though, he will go to the World Cup and could fetch them a fee of around €15m – or even more. A lot for a club like Nürnberg. The whole situation is very similar to the one of Lukas Podolski two years ago. I for one, would not mind the same outcome.
