Player Focus: Who is the More Suitable Lewandowski Replacement?

On Monday, Borussia Dortmund confirmed the signing of Ciro Immobile from Torino, capturing one of the hottest striking talents in Europe from last season. His departure, however, means Serie A has now lost its top goalscorer for the last 3 successive seasons, with Immobile following in the footsteps of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani, with the duo signing for PSG in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

His arrival brings Dortmund's pursuit of the 22-goal frontman to an end having been linked with a move for Immobile for much of 2014. Having also agreed a deal with Hertha Berlin to sign Adrián Ramos, it may be reasonable to suggest that Dortmund’s attack line has become stronger despite Robert Lewandowski’s move to Bayern.

For the best part of 12 months, Lewandowski had been mooted with a switch to the Allianz Arena before the deal was confirmed in January. Jurgen Klopp’s side set out to secure a replacement for their talismanic frontman and in signing both Immobile and Ramos; they have done just that.

Only Lewandowski (20), Mario Mandzukic (18) and Josip Drmic (17) scored more Bundesliga goals than Ramos (16) last season, with Immobile and Ramos netting an impressive 38 league goals between them. Evidently, the new Dortmund strikeforce boast the goalscoring touch needed to succeed for their new team. However, with Klopp favouring a 4-2-3-1 formation, incorporating both in the starting XI will likely give the head coach a selection headache.

Of the two, Ramos may well be the most viable option to lead the attack. The Colombian boasts the experience in Germany’s top tier to seamlessly transition from Hertha to Dortmund and often played as the lone frontman for his previous team. The same cannot be said of Immobile, who was regularly paired with Alessio Cerci in a two-man attack for Torino last season.

While it’s possible Klopp could discard his preferred formation to accommodate both players, doing so means one of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan or Marco Reus would see their playing time limited. Furthermore, the Dortmund boss has a system in place that has been effective since their title win in the 2010/11 season and it remains to be seen whether he would stray from this in order to start both Immobile and Ramos.

While Ramos seems the more logical alternative to Immobile as Lewandowski’s replacement up front, his prolificacy perhaps suggests otherwise. The former Hertha striker has a marginally better conversion rate (17.2%) than Lewandowski (17.1%), but both fared worse than Immobile (21.8%) in front of goal last term, while Immobile's mintues per goal return (117.6) was also better than both Ramos (166.4) and Lewandowski (140.1). The Italian was rewarded for his efforts with a place in Cesare Prandelli’s World Cup squad for Brazil 2014, but the approach adopted by Torino compared to Hertha and Dortmund would undoubtedly have played to his strengths.

The Serie A side boast a WhoScored strength of ‘counter attacks’, giving a clear indication of their style of play under Giampiero Ventura. The striker often played on the shoulder of the last defender to catch the opposition backline on the break, which meant only Luca Toni (6) scored more counter-attacking goals than Immobile (4) in Serie A last season.

Dortmund also boast a statistically calculated strength of ‘counter attacks’, but relied less on this approach than Torino, such is the former’s standing in their league compared to the latter, though Dortmund can use this facet of their game to destructive effect when needs must. While a player of Immobile’s calibre will improve their attacking quality, trying to accomodate him could be the footballing equivalent of forcing a square peg in a round hole.

Aubameyang is expected to play a bigger role in the upcoming season, while key man Reus has already ruled out a summer move away from the club. The possibility of Klopp moulding Immobile into a number 10, which would see him deployed behind the striker, though that would see him take Mkhitaryan’s place in the starting XI, is highly unlikely. Furthermore, using him out of position would be a waste of Immobile’s striking prowess, though that isn’t to say his acquisition won't yet prove to be a shrewd one.

The frontman is only 24 and has the time to develop his game to become a more complete striker that can match the needs of Klopp, though at present, Ramos is the ideal option to spearhead the attack. The Colombian has a similar physical presence to Lewandowski and his ability to bring others into play will benefit his teammates.

Only Drmic (54.1%) directly contributed to more of his team's goals than Ramos (52.5%) in the Bundesliga last season, so the latter’s goalscoring and creative ability will certainly help to make up for the departure of Lewandowski. Klopp meanwhile is unlikely to alter his formation and approach to benefit Immobile, meaning he may have to bide his time to attain regular game time, or alter his style of play to suit his new team.

Nevertheless, the acquisition of the pairing softens the blow of Lewandowski’s Bayern switch, even if Dortmund’s rivals are strengthened as a result. However, it’s Ramos who looks set to initially benefit from the Pole’s departure rather than Immobile. Though the Italian is an impressive coup for Die Schwarzgelben, he will need time to leapfrog his Colombian teammate in the pecking order.

Who do you think is the better replacement for Robert Lewandowski at Dortmund? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below