Chris Führich: Stuttgart's wing wizard

Deniz Undav and Serhou Guirassy have been the headliners of VFB Stuttgart this season, and with good reason as they both are in double figures for goals. However, their left-winger this season, Chris Führich (26), has also really impressed as a crafty wide man that's contributed 7 goals and 6 assists in all competitions (as of writing).

Führich profiles as a wide playmaker who shows good link-up play with quick 1-2's, 1 touch passes and a nice weight of pass for through balls. Despite starting on the left, he's not really a touchline hugging winger as he likes to come into the left half-space channel and he will even come deep towards the halfway line with his back to goal. His teammates will often look to play the ball into him near the box for 1v1's where he'll often look to play the ball square into the box for one of the forwards. 

He has a good eye for space off the ball as he's got on the end of through balls and cut-backs to put away big chances. This eye for space and his vision also helps with Stuttgart's sweeping build-up play as he'll often receive deep and look to either carry the ball into the space on the wing, the centre or play the ball off quickly inside or to his left flank partner, Maximilian Mittelstadt, who has also been fairly lively this season.

The German international is quite quick, not blisteringly quick, but he's averaging 3 successful take ons per match. Although he doesn't often go down the line near the box, he does have a good left footed cross and is something I think he ought to try more often. He also possess a nice change of pace allowing him to decelerate and accelerate to beat his man going left or right, which is also complemented by his quick footwork.

He does roam around every so often as he will find himself in very advanced central areas where he looks to slip the ball through to a teammate. He'll also sometimes swap over to the right wing where he also likes to run inside and being on his favoured right foot also offers him more natural passing angles.

In terms of criticisms, he is susceptible to running into crowded areas where defences are able to wall him off and he ends up losing the ball. It's also a bit of an odd case with him because, despite the fact he generally is a pass first player, he does sometimes miss an optimal pass to a teammate in space. As a winger in the modern game you'd also hope for him to track back a bit more when the opposition has the ball in Stuttgart's half, although he is a decent presser and will make tackles higher up the pitch. One other problem is that he does get into very good goalscoring positions but his finishing has let him down in big moments which has probably cost him an extra 3 or so goals.

Führich is a nice option on the left beside Undav and/or Guirassy, although I think he'd really flourish in a nominal number 10 role due to his pass first tendancies in slightly deeper areas and his ball carrying. Obviously his final ball would need to become a bit more consistent, but overall he's a very entertaining player who has been a real spark for Stuttgart.