How Paco Alcacer turned his career around at Borussia Dortmund

Paco Alcacer has made an incredible comeback at Borussia Dormund. How has he done it, and can he maintain his incredible form?

It’s hard to understate just how badly Paco Alcacer’s stint at Barcelona went. Across three years at the Catalan club, he made just 50 appearances, started 22 matches and played the full 90 minutes on only seven occasions. Despite scoring 15 goals, he never fully gained the trust of Luis Enrique and saw his role diminish further with the appointment of Ernesto Valverde.

Off the pitch, Alcacer developed an inferiority complex surrounded by stars such as Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, never believing he was good enough to dislodge the fearsome trident. Even when Neymar left the club and Suarez’s suffered an extended dip in form, the Spanish forward saw his role at the club diminish. Across all competitions last season, he played 90 minutes just three times.

After three years, Alcacer gave up on his Barca dream and moved to Borussia Dortmund this summer. At the start, it didn’t seem like he was going to get much of a break in Germany either,  missing the first five games of the season through injury and struggling with fitness issues as an after effect of not playing consistently for the last two years.

Thankfully for the 25-year-old, though, his fitness issues are the only thing he has brought with him from Barcelona, as he’s made a stunning career revival in Germany. In 14 appearances for club and country so far this season, Alcacer has scored 15 goals despite only starting four games. The Spaniard has scored nine Bundesliga goals, despite starting only two games, and has proven instrumental for the table-topping Dortmund as a substitute.

Alcacer has made five appearances as a substitute so far this season. Dortmund have been leading just once when he’s entered those games (his debut match against Frankfurt). Among his nine league goals so far are a brace against Bayer Leverkusen after Dortmund had gone 2-0 down, an incredible hat-trick against Ausburg and a 90th-minute winner against Bayern Munich that sent Dortmund seven points clear of their Der Klassiker rivals. On Saturday, Alcacer scored the opener against Mainz in a 2-1 win that sent Dortmund nine points clear of Bayern and four clear of second-place Borussia Mochengladbach.

The ex-Valencia’s man career turnaround has been one of European soccer’s most popular stories so far this season, but might leave one wondering where this new found confidence and quality has come from.

It’s important to remember Alcacer wasn’t a bad player to begin with. He made his professional debut in January 2012 with Valencia and consistently demonstrated an instinctive goalscoring touch. He scored his first goals for the club during the 2013-14 season, finding the net seven times as Valencia reached the Europa League semifinals. His final two seasons at the club were when he really began to make a mark, despite the club’s dire form. Alcacer scored 11 and 13 league goals during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons respectively. During his ill-fated tenure in charge of the club, Gary Neville made Alcacer club captain at the tender age of 22.

As mentioned before, the Spaniard had a respectable goalscoring ratio at Barcelona. He averaged a goal every 138 minutes in his first season at the club, the sixth best goal-to-game ratio that season and perhaps a sign of things to come.

Alcacer has also benefited from his surroundings. Dortmund manager Lucien Farve has also managed Alcacer superbly, not rushing the 25-year-old back into the first team despite his goalscoring exploits. Alcacer has mentioned Marco Reus as a major reason he’s settled so quickly at the Westfalenstadion. “Marco’s helped me a lot with settling in, both on and off the pitch,” he said. “He’s a big part of the reason I feel so good here, he’s a world-class leader.”

Across his career, Alcacer hasn’t needed many chances to score, something which is shown in his xG record over the last four seasons, but it has helped that the Spanish striker has been surrounded by such a creative attack. Seven of Dortmund’s first team this season have over a key pass per 90, with the top three averaging over two.

Three Dortmund players feature in the top 10 most assists in the Bundesliga this season, Jandon Sancho is joint top and Marco Reus is tied third. With the likes of Mario Gotze, Christian Pulistic and Raphael Guerreiro also in the side, Dortmund have plenty of inventive players and now have a striker who can take full advantage of the chances they create.

Even in that context, Alcacer’s numbers are stunning, and unlikely to stay this impressive. His xG figures for this season further suggest the striker’s form is unsustainable. Although the Spaniard is used to performing above his xG, he’s outperforming it by nearly five goals so far this season, something he’ll inevitably struggle to maintain.

Alcacer has been given the perfect conditions to succeed at Dortmund, but those conditions are unlikely to last the full season. Injuries to himself and his teammates, bad form, opposing managers adapting their game are just some of the challenges that every league challenger must endure during a season and Dortmund will be no different after their start to the Bundesliga campaign.

Alcacer’s lightening start to the Bundesliga campaign has earned him a permanent move to Dortmund, with the club activating their £22 million buyout clause on Friday. It’s difficult to predict how Alcacer’s Germany stint will go. On one hand, his start to life in the Bundesliga has shown us what he’s capable of. On the other, it’s difficult to fully evaluate just how good he’s been for Dortmund given he’s played so few minutes.

For now, one must feel Alcacer will have a fruitful career in Germany, not only because he’s been so good so far, but his track record, as rocky as it might be, gives Dortmund fans plenty to get excited about.