It was supposed to be Borussia Dortmund challenging for the Bundesliga title this season – not Borussia Monchengladbach.
Denis Zakaria, possibly the most important player of all. Only just 23 – it was his birthday earlier this week – he is the one who has been entrusted with stoking the fire in the Gladbach engine room.
“I’ve been compared to [Patrick] Vieira and [Paul] Pogba – two players I really respect and, in a way, see as role models,” Zakaria said not long after joining from Young Boys in 2017.
Germany legend and former Gladbach man Lothar Matthaus, meanwhile, has compared the Swiss to Toni Kroos, which is more instructive than the chronically overused 'new Vieira' and 'new Pogba' tags.
“I’m glad that Gladbach have found another pearl,” Matthaus has said of Zakaria. “At his age, I was still earning my first stripes for Borussia.”
While Zakaria has a way to go before he can claim to be on the same level as Pogba or Kroos, let alone Vieira or Matthaus, he is dynamic enough to bridge the gulf in their respective styles.
Equally confident in a defensive midfield role or slightly further forward, he is an excellent interceptor and recycler of the ball who is able to pivot with a deceptive burst of pace between defence and attack.
He can also draw on deep reserves of strength and stamina, which gives him the air of a genuine all-action midfielder.
Throw in his considerable experience – he’s already made 82 appearances for Gladbach and is a regular in the Switzerland national team – and it’s not hard to see why people are excited.
His skills as an interceptor make him an invaluable part of Rose’s midfield as the man who orchestrates Gladbach’s transitions, winning the ball in front of the defence before ferrying it forward with long, loping strides.
If there is a comparison to be made with Vieira, it is in his foal-like running style, 6’2’’ frame and the bafflingly long feet-on-stalks with which he dispossesses his opponents.
He is also an industrious tackler and the fact that he has six yellow cards for the season already hints at a Vieira-esque attitude to discipline.
Where the Kroos comparison starts to make sense, though, is in Zakaria’s passing game. As well as being a disruptor and orchestrator from deep, Zakaria is also an intelligent distributor who keeps Gladbach ticking over with the ball as well as without it.
Though he only has two goals and one assist in the Bundesliga so far, he defies his billing as a defensive midfielder. Just ask Werder Bremen, against whom he provided a neat assist at the weekend for Patrick Herrmann’s third goal in a 3-1 win.
Along with the inevitable scrutiny which comes with Gladbach’s surprise surge to the top of the table, Zakaria will have to deal with greater external pressure this season.
When a player is being compared to Vieira at 23 years of age, it goes without saying that the hype train is chugging full-steam ahead.
He has been widely linked to Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham, and there’s well over a month to go until the January window opens.
However, even his agent has ruled out the possibility of a mid-season move.
"Denis is in very good shape in Gladbach and has been playing really well for weeks," Mathieu Beda told Sport Bild. "But he still has more potential and he wants to show that in Gladbach now instead of dealing with a change."
There will be plenty of time to consider the offers on the table next summer – particularly if Zakaria and Gladbach continue to upstage Dortmund and Bayern by maintaining this surprise title challenge.