Bundesliga
Who is Javairo Dilrosun?
Hertha Berlin’s 21-year-old Dutch winger has enjoyed a scintillating start to the 2019/20 season, scoring two outstanding – but very different – goals.
bundesliga.com explains why there is so much more than just two goals to Dilrosun’s game. In fact, contributing to 10 goals in his first 21 Bundesliga games, the speedster has quickly warmed to the German top flight with plenty more to come…
Age: 21
Club: Hertha Berlin
Position: Left winger
Country: Netherlands (1 cap)
Key stats
Like many of the best footballing talents in the Netherlands, Dilrosun joined Ajax as a child, aged just eight. He’d grown up in the city of Amsterdam and learned his array of skills and tricks on the streets of the Netherlands’ most bustling city. After a further eight years in the legendary Dutch academy, he made an unorthodox move and joined English Premier League side Manchester City’s youth set-up by the time he was 16.
Domestically, Dilrosun featured for City’s U18, U19 and U23 sides, before taking his search for first-team football to Berlin in summer 2018. He duly found what he was looking for in the German capital, grabbing an assist on his debut against Schalke. A pair of goals and assists in his next three games capped a glorious start to life in the Bundesliga, only for back and hamstring injuries to check his progress. With two goals and four assists to start 2019/20, however, he is making up for lost time.
Plays a bit like: Leroy Sane
While his incredible speed is his most obvious attribute, much like former Schalke winger Leroy Sane, Dilrosun is a swiss army knife of a nightmare for Bundesliga defenders, as proven by his last two goals in the league.
The catalyst for the first was a quite brilliant slalom run through the Paderborn defence from the left wing. Bringing the ball inside between two defenders before reaching the box, Dilrosun proceeded to dance around and through the next defender, tying him in knots and forcing him to the ground. Then, with only the goalkeeper to beat, he slotted the ball under his arm with a neat finish.
Against Cologne, the power behind his wand of a left-foot was shown to full effect. Picking up the ball in the middle of the pitch, 25 yards from the home side’s goal, he quickly picked his spot and nailed it with a powerful strike that curled away from the goalkeeper. Timo Horn had no chance, and Dilrosun didn’t even have to dribble past a defender to make it happen.
Watch: Dilrosun's incredible solo goal vs. Paderborn!
Did you know?
Dilrosun is cousins with Sheraldo Becker, who plays for Berlin rivals Union in the Bundesliga. The pair grew up in Amsterdam together with just three years difference in age between them. They have yet to come up against each other in a professional game but will get the chance to do so twice in the Bundesliga in 2019/20.
What they’re saying
"He's still young, but very talented and incredibly fast. For him, the Bundesliga is a good step. The team will help him and be there for him. In two to three years he can become a top player for Hertha." - Hertha teammate Salomon Kalou.
"It will be important to keep the boy healthy. In him, we have a real weapon on our flank" - Hertha coach Ante Covic.
"We distract ourselves and don't talk about football all the time. We tend to chill, relax and go shopping. He helped me a lot when I first arrived in Berlin" - Union Berlin's Sheraldo Becker, Dilrosun's cousin.