Scouting Borussia Dortmund's Rising Star Felix Passlack

Whenever young players make their first steps in professional football for Borussia Dortmund these days, the comparison to Mario Gotze is brought up. 

The 2014 World Cup winner came to the club at the tender age of eight in 2001, and he performed well for their youth teams and debuted for Jurgen Klopp's outfit in November 2009.

It's unfair to hold Dortmund's current prospects to the standards set by a once-in-a-generation talent, but some of them have shown the potential to follow in the now-23-year-old's footsteps nonetheless.

There's Christian Pulisic, whom we ranked as the club's best youth prospect in January and who has impressed in his six appearances for the first team thus far. A technically gifted attacking midfielder, the sky seems to be the limit for the 17-year-old American.

He's not the only kid to make the jump to first-team football this season, however. Pulisic will always be mentioned in the same breath as Felix Passlack. Both joined the senior squad in the winter break this season and alternate between playing for the under-19 team and Thomas Tuchel's senior side.

Versatile midfielder Passlack, almost four months older than his team-mate from across the Atlantic, called Gotze one of his footballing role models in an interview with Simon Pausch of daily paper Welt (link in German) in October 2015, but there aren't many similarities with the Bayern Munich star. 

Here, B/R takes a closer look at Passlack and his future with the Black and Yellows.

Style of Play

One of Passlack's biggest strengths is his physicality, despite standing at only 5'6''. He's sturdily built and must be dedicated in the weight room, as he's probably already maxed out his frame.

It's important to note that Passlack isn't one of those players who overwhelms peers in the youth ranks but struggles once they play against men. The Germany under-18 international has the body to play football at the senior level, but his athleticism is just an asset, not his whole game.

That much was evident when he first joined the team in a winter training camp in La Manga, Spain, in January 2015. Only 16 years of age at the time, he held his own in numerous appearances in friendlies.

As this compilation of all his touches in a friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt earlier this year shows at around the 15-second mark, Passlack doesn't get wrestled off the ball:

Superb balance and a low centre of gravity allow him to be an adequate dribbler even though his technical abilities are well below those of Pulisic or even Gotze. "Running with the ball doesn’t seem to affect his technique, nor does it slow him down," noted Lewis Ambrose for Squawka.com.

His athleticism paired with great enthusiasm mean Passlack is a human dynamo on the field, as evidenced by his impressive statistical output.

Dortmund's No. 30 has scored 37 and assisted 32 goals in 64 appearances for the club's under-17 and under-19 teams. He's a big reason the Black and Yellows have won back-to-back German titles at the under-17 level and currently lead their division of the under-19 Bundesliga.

Considering Passlack plays out wide, those numbers are outrageous.

Ambrose pointed out that he's a "good finisher off both feet and calm in front of goal," while "his obvious pace allows him to get in behind defences."

His shooting technique is impeccable, as two of his goals at the UEFA under-17 European Championships 2015 showed. This emphatic finish against the Czech Republic was one of two goals on the day:

In Germany's first match of the tournament, Passlack scored one of the best goals of the Euros:

"

Si Passlack marque, c'est forcément est joli goal ! #BVB pic.twitter.com/CVCUpmYHFr

— Alexandre F. (@Schmelo16) May 6, 2015"

Mentality

Passlack is a born leader. He captained his Dortmund side during their Under-17 Bundesliga title defence in the 2014/15 season and led out Germany at both the UEFA European Under-17 Championship and the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2015.

Luca Gierl described Passlack's character on the pitch for ConstantinEckner.com in April 2015, pointing out that "the thing that probably stands out the most is his will to win. He’s full on sprinting to every throw-in, corner or free-kick he has to take. Once he even got the ball out of the net and sprinted back to the halfway line after his team just scored the 5-1."

He's a fierce competitor who wants to win every duel, not just every game. That doggedness hasn't made him grim, however.

When his Germany side advanced to the semi-finals of the 2015 Euros thanks to a penalty-shootout win over Spain, Passlack was the first player to console opposition captain Carles Alena, who had missed one of the penalties:

Sometimes young players making the jump to the senior level lose their focus a bit, but no one needs to fear that happening to Passlack, whose reaction to his full senior debut against Darmstadt earlier in March was refreshingly down to earth (via Ambrose).

"I’ll sleep very little tonight," Passlack said. "Nerves are always present, but when you’re on the pitch they go very quickly. You have to use the chances you get. I’ll keep working hard and see what the future brings."

Positional Fit at Dortmund

In our aforementioned ranking of Dortmund's youth prospects—Passlack came in second—we speculated that he "is most likely to break through for Dortmund at full-back because one of his few weaknesses is a below-average first touch."

The 17-year-old played predominantly at left-back in the Dubai training camp, but he has made both of his appearances in competitive matches on the right wing. 

It's still true that he doesn't "come inside and attempt to combine with other midfielders as often as Tuchel likes his wide players to," as Ambrose noted, and that doesn't make him a perfect fit for a midfield role in Dortmund's ball-retention-orientated system.

In recent weeks, however, Tuchel has started to use full-back Erik Durm in advanced roles in certain matchups.

Against Bayern, for example, Dortmund played with five at the back with Durm as a right wing-back. The 2014 World Cup winner has the required athleticism to play that demanding role and it's one that suits Passlack's profile very well, too.

As Gierl pointed out in a piece for YellowWallPod.com, "Tuchel’s system requires the right-back to provide width offensively, keep the combination play alive and create breakthroughs when the team overload the left wing to create space on the right side of the pitch.

Passlack has a directness to his game that could work really well out wide, especially with the added cover of three centre-backs behind him. He wouldn't be asked to make as many inside runs and be as active in combination play as he would in a normal role as right-winger. 

His assist against Argentina at the under-17 World Cup shows a glimpse of what Passlack could do from that position:

"

#ArgGer Poi, Vitaly #Janelt ispira #Passlack per il raddoppio di #Eggestein: 2-0 Germania #U17WC pic.twitter.com/eG4YfVvCoG

— MondoFutbol (@MondoFutbolCom) October 22, 2015"

Whatever role Tuchel envisions for Passlack, it's apparent that the 17-year-old has all the tools to succeed at the next level.

His future at Dortmund is bright, even though it may take him a while to break through, especially compared to Pulisic, who should compete for spots in the starting XI as early as next season. Eighteen in May, Passlack has all the time in the world.

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.