Written by: WHUFC_London

Sebastien Haller
Eintracht Frankfurt (German Bundesliga)
Age: 25
Nationality: French
Position: Striker
18/19 Season Club Stats:
2180 minutes played
29 Appearances (23 Starts)
15 Goals
9 Assists

Sebastien Haller is the latest striker to be linked to a move to us this summer. After the Gomez saga was finally ended this week news has since broke that the club are speaking to Haller’s representatives and attempting to agree a fee with his club Eintracht Frankfurt. Haller is one of the up and coming strikers in Europe over the last two seasons and has made a major impact in Germany. Haller has recently been linked with Manchester United as well as other clubs around Europe. Should we manage to agree a deal for Haller he’ll join up with his former France Under 21 team mate Issa Diop at the club.

Background knowledge:

Haller started his career in his homeland with French side Auxerre, he made his first debut for them in the 12/13 season aged 17. He stayed in France with Auxerre for 2 years before a career changing loan move to Dutch side FC Utrecht. Whilst on loan at the club Haller made 17 appearances scoring 11 goals. The season after his loan move was then made permanent for a fee of around £1m. Haller stayed in Holland for a further two seasons scoring 34 league goals over the course of the two seasons and winning various individual awards along the way. He then transferred to current side Eintracht Frankfurt for around £8m on a 4 year contract. Haller has had great success in Germany and has made a real name for himself there. In his two seasons he has helped Frankfurt reach the Semi-Finals of the Europa League and also won the DFB Pokal (German FA Cup) something the club hadn’t done since 1988.

How does he play and how would he fit into Pellegrini’s plans:

Haller’s key attributes are his hold up play, ability to bring others into play and is a deadly finisher inside the penalty area. Although when thinking of a 6.2ft striker you think of playing the ball long to them and expect them to be fairly slow Haller is the complete opposite. Haller likes to get on the blind side of a defender and he is very space aware which can drag defenders away and create space for his team mates. This worked really well in his partnership with Luka Jovic last season. Haller also has a great turn of pace and will get away from defenders using this along with his trickery, he is not shy of a step over or two.

Haller is very much a penalty area type of striker, interestingly enough he only had 2 shots outside the box the whole of last season. Overall he took 54 shots at goal last season and 26 of them hit the target, that’s pretty impressive as he scored 15 goals (only 16 shots off target, 12 shots blocked).

Haller is very good in the air too, in the aerial battles last season he won 201 from 341 but only 2 of his 15 goals last season were from headers. Haller mostly scored with his preferred right foot (12). I’ve watched back all of his goals over the last 2 seasons and from what i can see his a VERY calm, composed finisher of the ball. He makes striking a ball into the top or bottom corner of the goal look effortless.

Although we have a lot of attacking midfielders to provide assists Haller will also chip in with a fair few assists, he made 36 key passes last season leading to chances for his team mates and he got 9 assists. These two stats alone are more than any other striker in the Bundesliga and Premier League, only Callum Wilson can match Haller on assists total (Wilson also got 9 last season).

Injury wise:

I am pleased to report Sebastien Haller doesn’t have any outstanding injury issues or suffered from any long term lay offs so far in his career. Haller was out injured toward the back end of last season but this was only for a few weeks. This was due to an Abdominal Strain which unfortunately made him miss the first leg of Eintracht Frankfurt’s European Semi Final vs Chelsea. He did however get named on the bench for the second leg and came on to score the penalty shoot-out.

Summary:

Overall with missing out on Gomez, Haller is the outstanding candidate to lead the line for us next season. He has many attributes that will complement “The Pellegrini Way”. I really hope the club can learn from the Maxi Gomez deal and get this one over the line because there will be interest from other clubs especially if the fee of £36m being reported is correct.

If we play how we expect Pellegrini will this season with attacking full backs and lots of attacking flair in the midfield Haller will suit us perfectly, a stiker who loves being in the penalty area and can work space for himself and others.

I’ve heard various people in the media suggest if we can pull this deal off it could be the signing of the season, I’d go along with that assuming he can settle into the Premier League quickly. I don’t see this being a problem for him he’s got the strength and aggression to battle with defenders as well as the pace and power to get away from them.

Pellegrini needs to be provided with a goalscorer to take this project to the “Next Level” and if we get Haller he is certainly “Next Level”.

Potential Signing Rating: 9/10