It is almost guaranteed that Erling Haaland will leave Borussia Dortmund in the summer.

The center-forward, who signed from Red Bull Salzburg in January 2020, is set to leave the German club after becoming one of the most prolific center-forwards in Europe.

He has a release clause attached to his contract and one of the big clubs in Europe will inevitably activate it.

Dortmund, known for signing emerging talent, originally signed Donyell Malen as a replacement for Jadon Sancho.

However, Malen has played 51% of his minutes as a center-forward for Borussia Dortmund.

The following visualisation highlights Donyell Malen’s numbers in the season so far.

The 22-year-old Malen, who signed from Eredivisie club PSV, has played the most minutes among Dortmund forwards, partly also because Haaland has been injured quite frequently this season.

This has allowed Dortmund to play Malen as their centre-forward, which is his primary position.

However, the Dutch international can also play anywhere in the front three.

In terms of goal scoring, Malen has only three goals so far in 21 games, which is not the number that Dortmund want from him if he is supposed to be the long-term replacement for Haaland.

Donyell Malen also has three assists to his name, which could be better.

Malen’s biggest strength is his dribbling as he ranks in the 92nd percentile for dribbles attempted per 90 minutes.

Malen is not a frequent shooter, as he ranks a lowly 35th percentile for shots per 90 minutes.

He gets in positions to cross the ball often, as indicated by his 81st percentile for crosses per 90 minutes.

He also wins a high number of duels as he ranks in the 92nd percentile for Duel Success %.

Having scored 19 goals in 2020-21 for PSV, expectations were always going to be high.

Unfortunately for Dortmund, Malen has not hit that level in his first season in Germany.

However, given he is only 22 years old, Dortmund can take the gamble of relying on him as their primary centre forward for one season to determine if he can be the long term successor for Haaland.