Joey Veerman makes his team-mates at Borussia Dortmund better and even cures Niko Kovac of a phobia

Borussia Dortmund have hardly been short of capable central midfielders, whether in attacking or defensive roles, in recent seasons. Marcel Sabitzer, Felix Nmecha, Jobe Bellingham, Julian Brandt and, until the last winter break, Pascal Groß are all different types of player, but each brings quality. What linked them was that coach Niko Kovac apparently did not trust any of them to really build Dortmund's play through the middle.

That is not even much of a criticism, because Kovac has shown throughout his coaching career that building through the centre is generally not his thing. Especially when opponents press, he tends to favour the quick pass out to the wing. If BVB's play last season was accused of a lack of creativity, that was also because the central midfielders saw comparatively little of the ball and the wide players could be marked tightly on the flanks.

How many touches did Joey Veerman have for BVB against Villarreal?

This summer, though, BVB signed a player from whom even Kovac cannot, or does not want to, coach the game through the middle out of him. Joey Veerman constantly demands the ball into central areas from his team-mates. And thanks to his outstanding passing ability and no less impressive game intelligence and timing, which is reminiscent of metronomes such as Rodri, Toni Kroos or Andrea Pirlo, he usually does very good things with the passes he receives.

After coming on in the fortunate 3-2 win against TSG Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga, he finally gave Dortmund's play calm and structure. In the again unnecessarily tight 3-2 win at the start of the Champions League against FC Villarreal, he started as a conductor and made the team-mates around him better. Felix Nmecha alongside him in the double six, Marcel Sabitzer to his left ahead of him, Konstantinos Karetsas until his injury and then Ethan Nwaneri to his right ahead of him not only found Veerman regularly, they also got the ball back from him in better positions than before.

Against Villarreal, he had 99 touches, an impressive figure even for a midfielder playing under a coach not called Niko Kovac and in a side with a more dominant style than BVB's. Of his 87 passes, 82 reached a team-mate, and the range of both his passing and his targets stood out too. Veerman seemed to find everyone in every area of the pitch, and he did it under pressure as well. The fact that, like his role model Pirlo, Veerman is neither the quickest nor the most dynamic barely matters when, as against Villarreal, he rarely loses the ball and still picks intelligent passes under pressure.

What did Niko Kovac say about Joey Veerman?

"He is really good on the ball, which is why we signed him, especially to still find solutions in these tight situations, when the pressure from the opponent becomes so great, in a confined space," Kovac had already said in praise of the Dutchman after the game against Hoffenheim. Against Villarreal, the assist king of last season in the Eredivisie (14 assists) was even better. After this match at the latest, it is easy to see why Veerman, who arrived from PSV Eindhoven for a fee of around €22 million, was described by some experts even before the start of the season as the best transfer in the Bundesliga.

Keep this up and Joey Veerman could become not only the player Borussia Dortmund were looking for, and the one who gives BVB what they have badly lacked of late. He could also be the man who cures Niko Kovac of his latent phobia of the centre. That might be the better news.

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