When tasked with naming the players to appear for Leicester City during the club’s miraculous Premier League title-winning season, Andrej Kramarić might not be the first name that springs to mind.
By Luke Bissett
The Foxes’ then-record signing made just two appearances from the bench in 2015-16 before departing for Hoffenheim in the January transfer window, though it is a move that he will have few regrets about. Kramarić struck five goals and four assists in the second half of the 2015-16 Bundesliga season, helping Hoffenheim avoid relegation against all odds under the now-Germany national team manager Julian Nagelsmann.
The Croatian international’s impressive form quickly prompted the German side to make his move permanent in the summer of 2016 – a decision that has proven to be mightily shrewd. With 136 goals for Hoffenheim in all competitions, Kramarić has gone on to become TSG’s all time top goalscorer. In fact, he has outscored second-placed Sejad Salihović (65) by more than double.
Kramarić has established himself as one of the finest attackers in the Bundesliga, notching double figures for league strikes in all but one of his eight full seasons in Sinsheim. The 33-year old has netted 119 times in the Bundesliga – almost a quarter of all goals scored by Hoffenheim since his debut in January 2016 (23.7% – 119/503).
He is much more than just a penalty box poacher however, with his role completely evolving within the Hoffenheim side over the last two seasons. Kramarić has adopted the mantle of provider and goalscorer, operating in a more withdrawn role under manager Pellegrino Matarazzo. The Croatian is typically deployed as an attacking midfielder behind two strikers, giving him considerably more responsibility in possession.
Kramarić proactively looks to get involved in build-up play, dropping between the lines to provide a forward option. In this deeper role, TSG are then able to utilise his neat link-up play to progress the ball into the final third. In fact, since the start of last season, the 33-year-old has been involved in 146 open-play shot-ending sequences – the most of any Hoffenheim player.
One of Kramarić’s greatest assets is his ability to receive well under pressure before navigating out of tight spaces via quick bounce passes and combining with teammates. The 33-year-old’s new-found position also offers him far greater freedom to drift into wider areas and deceive defenders by dropping into tricky pockets of space.
Upon picking up these positions, the attacker then has an innate ability to deliver final balls into the box. Kramarić played more passes into the area than any other Hoffenheim player in the Bundesliga last season (145), while he created twice as many chances as any other teammate (78). He is undoubtedly the beating heart of Matarazzo’s attacking trident, with only Bayer Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka (12) providing more secondary assists than him since the start of the 2023-24 Bundesliga campaign (seven).
The Croatia international’s deeper role has also not seen his goal output wane, with the forward still possessing the final third capabilities of an elite striker. He often varies his runs and does not hesitate to dart in behind – picking his moments to go beyond the opposition’s defence. Kramarić has garnered a reputation as one of the most clinical forwards in the Bundesliga, with only Robert Lewandowski (204) managing more goals than him since his debut in the German top-flight (119).
His capacity to create space for himself in the 18-yard-box is what makes him such an awkward customer for defenders. The 33-year-old has a real knack for arriving into the box late and perfectly timing his runs to target cut-backs. It’s this intelligent movement that enables him to evade tracking and fashion numerous opportunities on goal. Kramarić has accumulated the highest xG (Expected Goals) of any Hoffenheim player in the Bundesliga since the start of last season (13.7).
The attacker enjoyed a prolific end to last season, which has quickly followed him into the current campaign. Indeed, since the start of April, no player has been directly involved in more Bundesliga goals than Kramarić (16). This remarkable spell has also seen him become the first ever Hoffenheim player to have a hand in at least one goal in nine consecutive Bundesliga games (11 goals, five assists).
The marksman is now the highest scoring Croatian in Bundesliga history, while he has impressively netted against 26 different opponents in the German top-flight, with Greuther Fürth the only side to keep him out.
Kramarić captured the headlines after a three-goal haul against Bayern Munich on the final day of last season, thus taking TSG into this season’s Europa League. And he appears to be showing no sign of slowing down. The 33-year-old netted a treble during Hoffenheim’s 3-2 opening day victory over Holsten Kiel. It marked Kramarić as just the third player in Bundesliga history, after Gerd Müller and Klaus Fischer, to score 3+ goals on the first matchday in two separate seasons.
Kramarić struck against Eintracht Frankfurt last time out to top the Bundesliga scoring charts heading into the international break, while his triumph on MD1 was the Croatian’s 100th victory in Germany’s top-tier.
After missing out on one fairytale, Andrej Kramarić has written himself a remarkable story indeed.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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