Has Slaven Bilic already reached the same verdict? "He will never be satisfied sitting on the bench," fellow coach Christian Ilzer said a few months ago about Andrej Kramaric, who lost a bit of his status at TSG Hoffenheim last year as a completely undisputed first-choice player.
Bilic, who marked his return as Croatia coach after 14 years with a 2-1 away win in the Czech Republic, also kept Kramaric on the bench for the full 90 minutes in Prague. That had not happened this season to the national team's third-highest goalscorer, but Kramaric has also made a surprisingly poor start at Hoffenheim, at least in statistical terms.
He has played only 68 minutes across the first six competitive matches. Ilzer has yet to name him in the starting line-up. Last year, when Hoffenheim finished fifth after a strong season, Kramaric started 28 times and again posted impressive numbers: 15 goals and eight assists in 36 matches for TSG's record goalscorer, who has 158 goals in 366 games, has been in Kraichgau since 2016 and is now a proud 35 years old.
IMAGOAndrej Kramaric’s situation in Hoffenheim is reminiscent of a spell under Julian Nagelsmann
Kramaric has only had to deal with such a slump once before in Germany. That was a long time ago. It came in the first half of the 2017/18 season, when Julian Nagelsmann was in charge at Hoffenheim. Just as now, Kramaric was on the bench for five matches in a row, although he got more minutes as a substitute back then than he has recently under Ilzer.
Two reasons explain that. First, Kramaric played at the World Cup, where he was involved three times in the four matches before the round-of-32 exit, but came off the bench each time. Five days after the knockout defeat by Portugal, Kramaric underwent groin surgery and therefore returned to training with TSG much later than planned. He has clearly not yet been able to make up that deficit.
On top of that, Hoffenheim's squad has become noticeably deeper because of the extra workload created by Europa League involvement. They lost winger Bazoumana Toure to Newcastle United for around €50 million and allowed veteran midfielder Grischa Prömel to join VfB Stuttgart on a free transfer, but they also spent €66 million on six new signings.
Getty ImagesWho are Andrej Kramaric’s rivals at TSG Hoffenheim?
Above all, returning player and new international Bambase Conte, along with Adam Daghim, signed from Salzburg, have so far been clearly ahead of him on the wings. In attack, Kramaric is also up against the revived Adam Hlozek and the tireless Tim Lemperle and Max Moerstedt. Fisnik Asllani, too, recently became an option from the bench again for Ilzer after his move to RB Leipzig fell through.
Even so, the Austrian coach will be smart enough not to push Kramaric aside permanently. The Croatian is "a top professional who works tirelessly on his skills in detail", as Ilzer said in December, for example, when Kramaric made his 300th Bundesliga appearance against Hamburg. "He is a role model for all of us, for the entire team," Ilzer said, praising Kramaric as "an extreme winner type" and an "important part of this team". Hoffenheim did not extend his contract until 2028 at the beginning of May for nothing.
So it would not be a surprise if the door soon reopened for a fitter Kramaric. Especially as the competition in front of goal has hardly been frightening so far. Hoffenheim have scored seven goals in four league matches, but 10 other clubs have bettered that. They are also only fifth from bottom both for chance conversion and in the table.
Getty ImagesHoffenheim’s midweek schedule could play into Andrej Kramaric’s hands
The start of a punishing run of fixtures is another argument for Kramaric to feature more often. Seven competitive matches await the Kraichgau club in the three weeks after the current international break. If results stay this poor, Ilzer will be under real pressure to turn to the experienced crowd favourite.
Bilic's handling of Kramaric in the three remaining Nations League matches, twice against Spain and at home to England, is a different matter altogether. When he stepped down in 2012 after almost six years and 65 matches as national coach, Kramaric's debut for Croatia was still more than two years away.
Getty ImagesWill Andrej Kramaric still become Croatia’s record goalscorer?
His call-up despite the limited playing time in Germany speaks in the forward's favour. With 119 international caps, he ranks fourth for the national team behind Luka Modric (203), Ivan Perisic (159) and Darijo Srna (134). Reeling in both Srna and Perisic, who is second on the all-time scoring list with three more goals at 39, should be incentive enough for Kramaric. Even the 45 goals of legend Davor Suker are not out of sight.
For now, though, the currently goalless Kramaric must pull himself out of the small crisis surrounding him. If he responds to his status as a bench player in the same way he did under Nagelsmann, nobody in Hoffenheim will complain: with 11 goals in the second half of the season, Kramaric made himself indispensable and played a major role in their third-place Champions League finish.
Andrej Kramaric: performance data at TSG Hoffenheim
Competitive matches | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
366 | 158 | 74 |