Amid rumoured #BrentfordFC and #Barnsley interest in VfL Bochum midfielder Vitaly Janelt, here is a short [thread] on the 22 year old.

Janelt is a 6 foot German central midfielder and is predominantly left footed.

He played around 1700 minutes for Bochum in season 19/20, rotating game time with the experienced Tesche, as the pair supported ever present Losilla in a VfL double pivot. Unsurprisingly, Bochum's main system is 4231.

Janelt is mobile and gets about the pitch well showing good athleticism. He is happy picking up the ball under pressure from the goalkeeper in deep positions as well as volume passing in the middle third. Here is a map of his passes from a 2-1 win over Erzgebire back in June.

Here is a pass map featuring some attempts into the box from a 0-0 draw with Nürnberg. He looks like has more to offer in this regard.

As an understudy to Nørgaard, how suited would he be?
Here is a league heat map of Christians actions in 19/20. As a deep midfielder also joining play up the field and expected to break his line and press further forward we can see a fairly even central distribution of actions.

Here is a league heat map of Janelt in 19/20. Playing on the left side of a double pivot, we can see that bore out in the locations of his completed actions. As Brentford currently play with two 8s ahead of a deeper midfielder there would be a transition away from this imbalance.

Janelt is clearly a team player. Here he is doing a stint in goal after his side go a man down against future champions Arminia Bielefeld. He gets down well but did concede as Bochum eventually go down 2-0.

The more Nørgaard features for Bees it is becoming clear his role is not limited to being a defensive player. As the deepest mid he becomes a spare and regularly joins in late during attacking phases against set defences as well as a major shot and assist threat at set plays.

Janelt shows signs of this ability. Here he is breaking from midfield as the ball moves wide with himself ending up beyond the forward line. He makes a strikers near post run to score an outstanding flicked header.

Janelt shows good positioning for making interceptions and is strong in terms of ball recoveries in the oppositions half. With a good size and the ability to hold off attackers when pressed. It is clear why Brentford could be interested in the player.

Janelt is yet to feature this year which could be the protection of his transfer fee and an indication that he is ready to be sold.

At a rumoured 500k euros this would prove another strong piece of business by Brentford..

..and add a piece to the puzzle that each of the midfielders currently on the books are unable to consistently fill.

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