It has been nearly six years since I started writing for Fear the Wall, can you all believe that? Some of you may remember when I wrote my first piece, it was about Mahmoud Dahoud—an opinion piece on why I believed he could turn his flashes of brilliance into performances of significant value for Borussia Dortmund. COVID-19 had ruined my senior year of college, but I found writing for this blog to be a good opportunity to get some of the fog out of my brain (yea I had COVID) and a fun way to become
a greater part of the BVB community.
I really enjoyed those opinion and editorial pieces. For the last few years, I commuted by train, and I would spend my morning and evening rides to and from work chipping away at articles about why Julian Ryerson is an outstanding right-back. In 2025, my wife and I got married and bought a house, and the train commute went away. I became super busy, and finding time to write good thought pieces for Fear the Wall fell to the back burner. Somehow getting older means the clock moves quicker and quicker. A part of me has also always felt that I need to back up the arguments in my editorials—to make assertions with data and statistics and to stand on stable footing so that you all wouldn’t just read what I’m barfing up, but potentially even believe it. Sometimes the commitment of gathering all that data is discouragement enough to prevent me from writing at all.
I have not written a single editorial in 2026, and that’s a shame. I’d like to change that, and I’ve decided that to do so, I will be foregoing my unfounded apprehensions about cohesive arguments. I think I’ve earned the right to delivered you my unfiltered thoughts, and if you disagree, you all have never been shy about using the comments section.
Thank you for listening to my little ramble. Anyways. I do think Joane Gadou is really good.
Gadou arrived this summer extremely under the radar, and I’m not sure any of us know why exactly that is. The transfer was announced before the World Cup, and much of the footballing world was already shifting the focus to the international stage. Dortmund also didn’t really seem to face any competition, making the transfer extremely light on the dramatics. Still, the towering Frenchman was not particularly cheap, coming in from RB Salzburg for a hefty $23 million fee (worth noting here that Dortmund payed only $3 million more for Joey Veerman, who is considered a marquee signing). Perhaps it is Gadou’s age, but really, that should make his performances so far all the more impressive.
Gadou has made six competitive appearances for BVB so far, most of them 90 full minutes. He has established himself as the heir apparent to the Niklas Süle/Emre Can/Waldemar Anton (I don’t think anyone really “owned” that RCB spot) at the ripe age of 19, two years younger than Filippo Mane, who cannot seem to stay fit, and a few months older than Luca Reggiani, who we are being told potentially isn’t up to snuff for Bundesliga level ball.
From what I have seen, Gadou does well to provide a passing outlet for his teammates, whether by stretching play wide to move the ball forward through the wide midfielders, or providing an outlet ball to relieve pressure in the build-up. He has also shown immense physical ability beyond just his towering height; against Stuttgart he was clocked at 22.3 mph, which is genuinely quick.
I have seen internet people saying that he is a bad passer. I don’t know, maybe? I think those internet people may just need to take their Schlotterbeck-colored glasses off. Dortmund have one of the absolute best ball-playing center-backs in the modern game anchoring the defense. Joane Gadou is a teenager, and while he may one day have that type of skill in his locker, he may not, and that’s FINE. Are we forgetting some of the players that have turned out in the BVB back line over the last few years? Zagadou’s performance against Lewandowski that one time? Soumaila Coulibaly? Marin FREAKIN’ Pongracic?
It’s September, and Gadou already looks like the type of player BVB could lose in a big money move. So far, it doesn’t seem like anyone has noticed, and I think we should keep it that way.
That is my opinion. If you don’t like it, let me know in the comments. Good to be back!
