Serhou Guirassy: Analyzing BVB’s New Striker
Stuttgart managed to narrowly avoid dropping down to the German second tier in 2023 after beating HSV in the promotion / relegation playoff, and they would follow that up by losing key figures like Kostas Mavropanos (West Ham), Borna Sosa (Ajax) and Wataru Endo (Liverpool). And yet, despite their transfer exodus, Die Schwaben managed to punch above their weight and take Europe by storm, finishing second in the Bundesliga, returning to the UEFA Champions League, and setting up a date with Bayer Leverkusen in the DFL-SuperCup.
Today, however, Stuttgart find themselves with a massive rebuilding job after losing an abundance of talent in the transfer window. Deniz Undav has returned to parent club Brighton Hove & Albion, Hiroki Ito has joined Bayern Munich for €23.5 million, whilst his defensive partner Waldemar Anton has made the move to Borussia Dortmund for €22.5 million. Perhaps most damning out of all the departures is that of Serhou Guirassy, who has taken his talents to Borussia Dortmund after the Bundesliga giants triggered his €18 million release clause.
Born in Arles, France to Guinean parents, Guirassy began his career playing for Montargis, Amilly and Laval before heading to Lille in 2015 for €1 million, but he would fail to make his mark at Les Dogues and was forced to ply his trade with their B team and on loan at Auxerre. In the summer of 2016, Guirassy left France for the first time in his life and made the move to Germany, where he signed a five-year contract with Cologne.
In a cruel twist of fate, Guirassy underwent meniscus surgery soon after joining Cologne, with his debut campaign being riddled with muscular injuries. Things started to turn around for him in 2017/18, where he finished as their top scorer in all competitions with 7 goals, but it wasn’t enough to stop them from finishing bottom of the table and dropping down to the Zweite Bundesliga. Guirassy would head back to France in January 2019, joining Amiens on loan with an option to buy.
Guirassy showed signs of promise with Amiens, grabbing 9 goals and 1 assist in 23 appearances in 2019/20 and even adding a brace in a 4-4 draw vs. PSG, but once again, he wasn’t quite able to do enough to keep his team afloat. As the Ligue 1 season ended prematurely following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amiens found themselves relegated to the second tier of French football.
He stayed put in his homeland, joining Rennes and scoring their first-ever goal in the UEFA Champions League, and whilst he didn’t quite set the world alight, he did manage double figures in all competitions in both of his seasons in Brittany. Rennes would invest heavily in the summer of 2022 by bringing in two of the most promising forwards in French football, signing Amine Gouiri from Nice and Arnaud Kalimuendo from PSG for a combined €48 million, and Guirassy was the odd man out.
The Guinea international returned to Germany and made the move to Stuttgart on loan with an option to buy, where he registered 11 goals in 22 Bundesliga appearances. He would earn a reprieve from yet another relegation on his resume, grabbing a goal contribution in each of the two matches vs. HSV as Stuttgart just about staved off the drop, and prompting the club to make his signing permanent.
It didn’t take long for him to make his mark in the 2023/24 season, grabbing a goal and an assist in their opening match vs. Balingen in the DFB-Pokal and finding the back of the net in each of his next five league fixtures. He equalled Robert Lewandowski’s record by scoring 10 goals in his first five Bundesliga matches, including a first-ever Bundesliga hat-trick vs. Mainz, whilst also became the second player in the 21st century to score 14 goals in the first eight matchdays of a season in Europe’s top five leagues after opening the scoring within 16 minutes of a 3-0 victory vs. Union Berlin.
Guirassy was unable to equal Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 15 goals from 2014/15, being substituted shortly after and missing nearly a month of action, but he made his return in style by coming off the bench and scoring a penalty in the 83rd minute as Stuttgart edged Borussia Dortmund 2-1. It was more of the same in December, with Guirassy grabbing a penalty vs. Werder Bremen and breaking the deadlock vs. BVB and eliminating them from the DFB-Pokal with a 2-0 win.
After ending 2023 with a goal vs. Augsburg, Guirassy headed south to the Ivory Coast and took part in the Africa Cup of Nations, where Guinea made it all the way to the quarterfinals before going out to DR Congo. Having failed to score at the AFCON and in his first game back from Africa, many began to speculate that Guirassy’s 15 minutes of fame had drawn to a close, that his magical carriage had turned into a pumpkin. How wrong they were.
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Guirassy found the back of the net in seven of his next eight matches, including a brace vs. Wolfsburg, striking up a deadly partnership with Deniz Undav in attack and leading Stuttgart’s Champions League push under manager Sebastian Hoeneß. On April 13, just one month after turning 28, Guirassy broke Mario Gomez’s record from 2008/09 by scoring his 25th goal of the campaign, the most goals from a Stuttgart player in a single campaign.
Stuttgart began the month of May by pulling off a shock 3-1 win vs. Bayern before edging Augsburg 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Guirassy, who closed out the campaign with a brace and an assist in their 4-0 victory against Gladbach. He scored the opening goal for the 12th time, tying a Bundesliga record set by Gerd Müller in 1969–70, Ailton in 2003–04 and Stefan Kießling in 2012–13, and his exploits saw him earn the Bundesliga Player of the Month for September and March and be included in the Bundesliga Team of the Season.
With 28 goals for Stuttgart, only Harry Kane (36) scored more in Europe’s top five leagues than Guirassy. A late bloomer, Guirassy has gone from a middling striker to the attacking protagonist for a scintillating Stuttgart side, boasting an imposing physical presence and a killer instinct in front of goal and constantly pressing his opponent for the ball. Capable of threading the needle with a one-touch pass and orchestrating the build-up, his multifaceted game and skillful play has seen him burst onto the scene as the next top striker in European football.
The question is — is Guirassy’s form sustainable? He scored 28 goals from 20.84 expected goals, tying Kane for the best scoring frequency in the Bundesliga (79 minutes), whilst only Felix Agu (3) won more penalties than him (2). Guirassy also missed 20 big chances, second only to Loïs Openda (22) and Kane (27) in the Bundesliga. He also took 1.6 shots on target per game, bettered only by Undav (1.8), Openda (1.8) and Kane (2.1).
Whilst he only registered two assists in the 2023/24 Bundesliga season, Guirassy’s link-up play and technical prowess has made him a constant threat even if he isn’t scoring. He’s constantly anticipating where the ball will arrive, capable of snuffing out aerial duels and using his body to shield the ball, and his instinctive first-touch finishes have made him into a red-hot striker who can smell a goal from distance and get to the right spot before the defender has the chance to intervene.
Guirassy has the complete skill-set, a speedy, formidable player whose cunning movement and aggression has seen him become the focal point of attack and enable his team to pinning the opposition defenders back and progress the ball into dangerous areas. Guirassy is always well-positioned to get on the end of through balls and cut-backs, and his presence will often attract the attention of multiple defenders and thus open up space for other players to threaten on goal.
He’s a versatile forward who has constantly had to adapt to his team’s requirements, capable of dropping deep and linking up with his teammates as well as staying forward and holding up the ball amid pressure from opponents. Whether it’s in a two-striker formation or as a lone striker, he’s been able to make an impact and finesse dangerous opportunities with his elusive runs and deadly prowess in front of goal.
In Stuttgart’s 3-1-4-2 formation, Guirassy would typically combine with midfielders and launch counter-attacks with his quick and precise passing. This time, however, he’ll likely be tasked with operating as a lone center forward under Nuri Şahin, who replaced Edin Terzić as BVB manager this summer. Guirassy will be expected to serve as the focal point of attack, holding the ball up with his back to goal and threading the needle for BVB’s speedy wingers such as Karim Adeyemi, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Donyell Malen to get on the end of it.
Borussia Dortmund have undergone a comprehensive rebuilding job since losing to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Final two months ago. Ian Maatsen and Jadon Sancho have returned to their parent clubs, BVB legends such as Mats Hummels and Marco Reus have departed the Signal Iduna Park, whilst Waldemar Anton, Yan Couto and Pascal Groß have bolstered Şahin’s squad in the transfer market.
After an embarrassing fifth-place finish, Dortmund will be looking to get back to basics and challenge Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title, and they’ll be counting on Guirassy to provide the goods once again. The acquisition of Guirassy has sent a message throughout the entire squad, with Niclas Füllkrug (31) departing for West Ham for €27 million, whilst Youssoufa Moukoko (19) also looks set to exit North Rhine-Westphalia in search of game-time. The onus is now on Guirassy to justify that trust and prove that he is not a one-season wonder, but instead, one of the best center forwards in Germany.
By: Ogunniyi Abayomi / @Cerebralcardo
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / DeFodi Images