Borussia Monchengladbach’s Rene Maric is 27 — and is the youngest and most interesting assistant coach in the Bundesliga.



A former amateur player who started coaching his local side TSU Handenberg in Austria at 17, the psychology graduate was one of the main writers for tactics blog spielverlagerung.de.



His lengthy essays on the finer details of the modern game didn’t make for easy reading but won him many admirers in the industry. Thomas Tuchel, then at Mainz, commissioned opposition scouting reports. He was later tasked to explain the mechanics of Pep Guardiola’s and Jurgen Klopp’s pressing game to a few Premier League clubs. Work on player analysis for Brentford and Midtjylland followed.



Maric struck up a friendship with Red Bull Salzburg’s under-18 coach Marco Rose and was appointed his assistant in 2017. Together, they won the UEFA Youth League in 2018 and were promoted to take charge of the first team. Since last...