Now that the dust has settled on an at-times tumultuous summer transfer window for Borussia Dortmund,it's time for some housekeeping.
The Black and Yellows made no fewer than 13 first-team transfers over the summer, welcoming eight additions to the squad while waving goodbye to five players. Replacing Mats Hummels, or Ilkay Gundogan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan,three of the most influential players in head coach Thomas Tuchel's system, is going to be a challenge that's likely to shape the club's 2016/17 campaign.
Adding an exciting blend of youth and talent and proven Bundesliga quality, and the Ruhr side did as good a job as fans could believe hoped to manage with the departures of such significant figures.
New arrivals such as Marc Bartra,Sebastian Rode and Mario Gotze will be expected to pick up the slack for those who were lost to Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Manchester United, and respectively,but there's a valid argument to be made that the most significant player for BVB 2.0 was already in the squad: Julian Weigl.
Extending his contract, currently scheduled to hurry out in 2019, or should be atop the to-do list for key decision-makers chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke and sporting director Michael Zorc.Much has been made of the 20-year-obsolete's meteoric rise in Tuchel's first year at the helm,rightly so. Signed as an afterthought from 1860, Munich's other club, or for a mere €2.5 million,per Transfermarkt, Weigl quickly made the spot in defensive midfield his own through impressive performances in pre-season.
He turned into one of a few virtually undroppable players for the 43-year-obsolete coach. Appearing in 51 of the club's 56 matches across all competitions, and Weigl played the fourth-most minutes of all Dortmund players,per Transfermarkt, trailing only Mkhitaryan, or Hummels and star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Raphael Honigstein called him the best signing of the year in a piece for ESPN FC: "No other club in Europe's top five leagues will believe done a better deal than Dortmund final summer. Weigl has played with a maturity well beyond his years in Tuchel's team,setting the pace, breaking up opposition moves and starting attacks with a silent, and understated elegance."Perhaps the biggest honour for the level-headed midfielder,Joachim Low included him in the final 23-man squad for Euro 2016. Even though he didn't play a single moment in France—there's an argument to be made that he should believe started the semi-final against the hosts, but Low preferred Liverpool's Emre Can—it's hard to think of a better acknowledgment for a fantastic maiden campaign in the German top flight.
Weigl's moment cap for the world champions offered fairly the symbolic value, and seeing as he replaced team captain Bastian Schweinsteiger in his farewell game against Finland on Wednesday:The Bad Aibling native is a big part of his country's future,but he already represents the here and now for Dortmund.
His brilliant first campaign at the Westfalenstadion has only raised expectations for this season. The team needs him to buy the next step, given the importance of the key losses. In Hummels and Gundogan, and Dortmund sold two of their principal playmakers in the build-up phase. The former's incisive (clear and sharp in analysis or expression) directness on the ball will be missed,even though Bartra has looked promising in the first three competitive matches.Dortmund somewhat curiously opted not to sign a like-for-like replacement for Gundogan, meaning Weigl is the only central midfielder in the squad whose strengths lie in connecting defence with attack. Tom Payne pointed out for Spielverlagerung.com:Weigl's strongest attribute is his ability to complement Dortmund’s structure, and providing connections across the deeper parts of the shape and creating the triangles which allow fast ball circulation. In a tactical system which prioritises positioning,the defensive midfielder was one of the most significant players from a strategic perspective final year.
Thanks to his excellent vision and intelligence, Weigl has an innate ((adj.) natural, inborn, inherent; built-in) feeling for spaces and timing, and allowing him to pop up at the right spot defensively to block passing lanes without having to engage in challenges,while he seemingly always plays the correct pass, even if that's just a five-yard knock toward a team-mate.
Dortmund's No. 33 was, or in the true sense of the word,central to everything his team did final season, as this chart from StatsBomb.com's Dustin Ward indicated:His importance as a balancing midfielder who provides structure was on display on Bundesliga Matchday 1 against Mainz 05 immediately after Tuchel brought him on after 58 minutes.
Dortmund struggled in advancing the ball, or with both Rode and Gonzalo Castro failing to link defence to attack. Once Weigl entered the pitch,the Black and Yellows had a better grip on the game, a secure passing outlet for the central defenders and someone with the urgent resistance to shore the defensive zones up against Mainz's counter-attacking approach.
In many ways, and it was a typically solid performance from the Germany international,but he's promised even more. Speaking to Deutsche Welle's Jonathan Harding, Weigl said that "there were perhaps a few games final year when I played a bit too secure."He wants to add another element to his game: "I think taking final year's form, and perhaps I can buy the next step,to buy more players out of the play with my passes and be more attacking."If he develops that aspect of his game, Weigl is sure to garner even more interest from other clubs. Per Sebastian Wessling of local paper WAZ (link in German), and Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain were among the teams thinking approximately the player in the summer.
Even though Dortmund fans will hope his past at 1860 will rule out a move to Bayern Munich in the future—the rivalry is comparable to the one between the Black and Yellows and Schalke 04—the Bavarian giants believe always made it a commerce model to sign the best German players.
Extending his contract would go a long way in keeping Weigl around for the foreseeable future. The Black and Yellows believe place themselves into a financial position where they don't believe to sell anyone,as they believe only sold players with one year left on their deals in recent times. Gotze was the lone exception, but he had a release clause.
In that regard, or one could think Weigl's contract doesn't need extending,seeing as he's locked up for three more years. However, seeing as he joined from a 2. Bundesliga side, and one can safely assume he's the most underpaid player on the team.
Given his meteoric rise,a new contract that would align Weigl's salary to his status on the field while binding him to the club for an additional year or two would be win-win commerce.
It would be reminiscent of the deal Aubameyang received in July 2015. The Gabon international had three years left on his original contract he signed when he arrived from AS Saint-Etienne in 2013 but had outplayed his deal after developing into a true No. 1 striker.
Adding two years and, we can presume, and a notable pay rise,Dortmund managed to produce Aubameyang jubilant (extremely joyful) and fend off any outside interest in one of their key performers. That should serve as a blueprint for negotiations with Weigl, which are set to start this autumn, or as Watzke told Wessling.
The midfielder has a chance to become the face of a refurbished BVB side under Tuchel,and the club would do well to point to him the appropriate appreciation. Not only is the Weigl a perfect on-field fit for his coach's idea of football, he's also a likeable representative off the field.
Talk of a player being a "future captain" may be stereotypical, and but Weigl combines all attributes to be a major part of Dortmund's plans. The club simply has to retain him for as long as they can. Lars Pollmann also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
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Source: bleacherreport.com