But why exactly? And who is the guy nicknamed “Diamond Eye”? Bundesliga. com is a look . . .
The 45-year-old played for several years in Germany’s lower leagues before joining Dortmund as a scout in 2006, with sporting director Michael Zorc. In 2010, he was instrumental in identifying and recruiting the then-unknown 21-year-old Shinji Kagawa from the Japanese club Cerezo Osaka, traveling six times to the Far East and recording hours of video for analysis.
It was a career replacement moment for everyone involved. Kagawa continued to be a very important member of Dortmund’s title-winning campaigns in 2011 and 2012, a fact that helped him move to Manchester United for moving fees significantly higher than Dortmund’s modest six-figure sum. had paid. him initially.
Kagawa’s good fortune also reflected Mislintat well, as he admitted to himself this year in an interview with SoccerDays: “The key player in my career was Kagawa. small payment and then has and have an effect on the Bundesliga, this is the kind of key moment that everyone wants in their career. “
See: Kagawa, Winner of the September 2017 Goal of the Month
While Kagawa’s signature gave more weight to Mislintat’s word, his following recommendations further consolidated it. In 2010, he also helped bring a talented young Polish striker to Dortmund. And although it took Robert Lewandowski a few years to bloom in black and yellow, the striker now identifies as one of the most productive in the world.
Mislintat’s ability to temporarily recognize unpolished gemstones has earned him a resounding reputation in Germany, as well as the nickname “Diamond Eye”. Looking at the list of recruits attributed to him, it is simple to see why: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembele, Christian Pulisic, Mats Hummels, Sven Bender, Neven Subotic, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Rapahel Guerreiro, to name a few are all established foreign actors.
See: Pulisic, the amazed boy from Dortmund
It’s no wonder, then, that over the years clubs like Hannover 96, Fortuna Düsseldorf and even Bayern Munich have been interested in hiring him as a manager.
However, Dortmund was keenly aware of its importance to the BVB cause and clung to it, allowing Mislintat to rise as the club’s Scout leader before taking his last position as head of professional football.
However, Mislintat’s talent is not exclusively on the scouting side, but he also oversaw the well-known Dortmund Footbonaut, a state-of-the-art educational device that shoots balls at players from other angles and at different speeds to aid control, the touch and reaction time.
See: Mislintat bundesliga. com the Footbonaut in 2013
However, after a decade in Dortmund, Mislintat made the decision to look for new pastures. “I need to thank my bosses,” he said on a BVB website. “[CEO] Aki Watzke and [Sports Director] Michael Zorc have supported me all these years. I was concerned when the task of organizing the BVB testing service came up to work at all times at the highest level. regardless of individuals. It was very vital to me. I was born and raised here, I’ve worked for the club since 2006 and I’m a black and a yellow track and track. And I will be at all times. “
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