Chelsea are apparently keeping a watchful eye over Jonas Hofmann of Borussia Monchengladbach and could move for him in the summer, according to Sport Bild.
The 28-year-old has been producing some strong numbers in the Bundesliga this season and could well be on Thomas Tuchel’s radar.
But who is this transfer target that has come out of the blue for the Blues?
Here are five facts about Jonas Hoffmann to whet your appetite.
Bundesliga born and bread
Hoffman hasn’t yet stepped foot outside of Germany from a football perspective.
He was scouted by Hoffenheim at the age of 12 and rose through their ranks until he switched allegiances to Borussia Dortmund in 2011.
After impressing in the development sides, Hoffman was handed his full Dortmund debut by Jurgen Klopp against none other than Hoffenheim.
Klopp wasn’t the only current Premier League manager to have coached the German.
Tuchel too looked after Hofmann for a while when he was BVB’s coach between 2015 and 2017.
There was also a brief loan spell at Mainz for Hofmann, another of Tuchel’s former clubs, and then a permanent move to Gladbach in 2016
Wing wizard
A majority of Hofmann’s career has been spent as a right-winger, but he’s also been to known feature on the opposite side as well.
For Gladbach this term, he’s already chipped in with ten assists and six goals from either flank.
Even the man himself described what his most productive role was.
“The positions out wide are where I can help the team from best,” Hoffmann told the Bundesliga website.
“My strength is making deep runs into the spaces behind the opposition defence.”
Marvel in Munich
Ironically, one of his standout performances of 2020/21 arrived when he was deployed on the left channel.
Gladbach stunned the German community by beating Bayern Munich 3-2 last month.
Hoffman stole the show by scoring twice and assisting the other to provide Die Fohlen with a historic victory.
This was only Hansi Flick’s fourth defeat of his then 60 game reign in charge of the Champions League winners.
Highs and Lowe
When we think of late bloomers in football, Jamie Vardy might spring to mind for English fans.
It wouldn’t be unfair to say Hoffman is the German Vardy. At the age of 25, he’d never managed more than eight league starts in one league campaign.
Now the midfielder is a fully-fledged regular with 141 Gladbach appearances under his belt.
His international breakthrough also took a while to arrive.
Joachim Low landed Hoffman his first senior Germany cap in October, having never previously played at that level before.
Sporting family
Sport simply comes as a second nature to the Hoffman family.
Harold, father of Jonas, made a decent handballer back in the day, whilst older brother Benjamin players for Astoria Waldorf in the German fourth-division.