Why Kevin Kampl Is the Borussia Dortmund Player with Most to Prove in Pre-Season

On Saturday, July 4, Borussia Dortmund played a friendly match against a select group of German athletes which ended in a comprehensive win for the German side. Yet among the nonsense and tomfoolery of such an event Kevin Kampl managed to pop up with a goal. 

Of course that in itself didn't or at least shouldn't have raised a few eyebrows aside from the fact that it was indeed the forward's first goal at the Westfalenstadion since signing for the club in January of this year.

A moment of applause for the player, perhaps, but one that unfortunately sums up Kampl's first six months at Dortmund perfectly. 

To say that Kampl's time at Dortmund thus far has been a complete failure would of course be far too harsh. The 24-year-old is still a young player and one that could still turn in to a fantastic player in Germany but as things stand he has a lot to prove to his new manager, Thomas Tuchel, and the club's fans this coming season. 

According to Transfermarkt, the winger amassed just two assists and not a single goal over the course of the 13 games he featured in during the resurgence of Jurgen Klopp's side last season. A tally that simply isn't good enough at any level of the game.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that Kampl signed for Dortmund at a time when they desperately needed solutions to their deep-seated problems. Klopp's head was on the chopping board, the team were flirting with relegation and Marco Reus looked as though he already had one foot out the door.

Then came along this new winger with the same bleach blonde hair that Reus had paraded around the Westfalenstadion for some time. Dortmund looked as though they had their new star forward. A young, talented player that the rest of the team and wider club could rally around.

As we all now know that never really materialised. Reus signed a new contract, Klopp got his team back on track and Dortmund began marching back up the Bundesliga table despite Kampl's struggle to fit in or indeed make any real contribution to the first team. 

Yet that doesn't mean this coming season has to be a repeat of the last for the young Slovenian international. 

Tuchel's appointment will undoubtedly favour Kampl due to the former Mainz manager's preference in man-managing his players and focusing on their individual talents when drawing up his tactics. Klopp is a wonderful leader and can galvanise his teams like few others in the modern game but when it came to tactics he was very much a coach who simply stuck players in positions and left it at that. And that never really helped Kampl. 

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

The young winger enjoys cutting inside and creating plays with the ball at his feet, when he isn't dribbling through defences and scoring on his own. With the right tweaking and fine tuning he could be a player that stands tall alongside Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in Dortmund's forward line next season. 

Another factor that should help Kampl prove his worth next season is the simple fact that Dortmund don't have an abundance of wingers. Sure, Reus will always hold the left flank as his own as long as he's fit but when it comes to the right there are actually very few people standing in Kampl's way. 

Klopp tended to stick with Aubameyang in the role, which worked more often than not, but in truth both the player and Tuchel would probably prefer to play the Gabon goalscorer as the stand alone striker for the coming season.

That leaves just Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jakub Blaszczykowski. The former a central midfielder by trade and the latter far too injury-prone to hold down a first-team spot. Whichever way we look at it, that right wing is Kampl's for the taking. 

The 24-year-old has his whole career ahead of him and is at a club that doesn't usually dump talent so heartlessly, so for the time being there is plenty of room for optimism when it comes to Kampl. Yet this season is an important one for the winger.

There's a new coach at the Westfalenstadion with his own preferences and ideas and as such Dortmund are on a new course. Kampl has much to make up for this year and is perhaps the player with the most to prove at this Bundesliga side next season.

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