Arsenal are reportedly tracking Max Kruse from Werder Bremen, but is the controversial player the right choice for the Gunners?
Max Kruse has spent his entire career in Germany and in his senior career he has played for five clubs including Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen and Borussia Monchengladbach.
The 29-year-old forward made 24 appearances for Werder Bremen last season, makng seven assists and scoring 15 goals in the Bundesliga. He placed sixth in top goal-scorers list.
Kruse has a somewhat troublesome personality, and has often been involved in incidents off the pitch. He even missed European Championshi and World Cup for Germany due to ‘incidents’.
In one such ‘incident’, he took the phone of a Bild journalist and got fined by the club. On another occasion, he lost €75k in cash in a taxi. While Germany was winning the World Cup in Brazil, Kruse was competing in the World Series of Poker tournament in Las Vegas.
Strengths
Despite his “performance” off the pitch, he is a very rewarding player, and his ability to convert chances is one of the best in Bundesliga.
His natural position is as a shadow striker, or even as an attacking midfielder. He is a natural at exploiting the position and focus of the defence on the main striking threat.
Kruse is a creative force for a striker and he makes 2.13 chances and plays 1.83 key passes per-game. His ability to hold the ball and pick a pass makes him a very dangerous player in front of the penalty box, and he also takes an average of 1.8 shots per game and is comfortable in using both feet to shoot.
With decent dribbling and physical strength, he is a very tough player to defend against.
Next, Kruse’s weaknesses