Et is not so easy to formulate a season goal when the club management has stated that it does not want to do this. “On the way here I was already thinking about what I could say,” said Mats Hummels when, after dinner at the “Quellenhof” hotel in Bad Ragaz, a group of journalists asked him where he and Borussia Dortmund were going because should go in the coming season.
“Formulating a target and having one – that’s two pairs of shoes,” said Hummels, grinning a little. Even those who do not name a goal could definitely have one. However, he was well aware that what he was about to say should ideally not contradict what Hans-Joachim Watzke and Michael Zorc had previously explained. In contrast to the previous year, they would no longer say that the German championship was the goal, the managing director and sports director had declared. Who dares to contradict?
The summit always in view: BVB in its training camp in Bad Ragaz
Source: dpa
Hummels is skillful enough not to do that – and still let it be known that he wants to get to the top with BVB. “At the end of last season, I said quite aggressively what I had in mind, and I don’t want to put that into perspective,” said the 31-year-old defense chief. He expects BVB to do “a little better than last season in all competitions”.
With regard to the Bundesliga, which BVB finished as runner-up, that inevitably doesn’t leave too much leeway. “There’s not much room for improvement,” said Hummels – and grinned again: “Let’s see.”
BVB with consistency and consistency
It is the crucial question with regard to the upcoming Bundesliga season, but the answer to it does not really depend on who postulates which goal before the start of a season or not. It’s more about whether BVB is strong and, above all, constant enough to become champions again for the first time since 2012. Then there could actually be another exciting title fight until almost the very end.
As for the potential of his team and his club, Hummels is quite confident – especially after the good news that Zorc was able to announce on Monday. Jadon Sancho, the best tempo dribbler in the Bundesliga, will “definitely” play in Dortmund in the coming season, he said. This is a message that definitely has the potential to create a spirit of optimism: Sancho, hunted by half of Europe, is not being sold. This time, BVB, which Uli Hoeneß had recently assumed to see good players primarily as potential sales objects, remained consistent.
Goes on his way in black and yellow: Jadon Sancho’s stay in Dortmund has a signal effect
Source: dpa
The Dortmund team demanded a transfer fee of 120 million euros for Sancho and at the same time issued an ultimatum: If no such offer is received by the time the team leaves for the training camp in Switzerland, the Englishman will not change at least until the summer of 2021. That’s exactly how it happened.
Hummels is happy about Sancho staying
After Borussia Dortmund’s training start, defense chief Mats Hummels speaks about the BVB squad and comments on Jadon Sancho’s whereabouts.
BVB’s consistent stance and the way Zorc had worked to keep Sancho despite Manchester United’s interest earns respect. The sports director had already extended the offensive player’s contract to 2023 prematurely a year ago and increased his salary accordingly – that definitely had an effect on the team. It is understood as a signal that BVB can hold a team together for longer. “I am happy if he stays with us. He’s a player who can make the difference, ”said Hummels.
The ex-national player knows about the importance of personal continuity. He witnessed the Jürgen Klopp era in Dortmund – the emergence of the team that became champions in 2011, won the double in 2012 and was able to get out of the Champions League final in 2013. Hummels, previously misunderstood at Bayern Munich, formed the defensive foundation of this team together with Neven Subotic. Because of its youth and inexperience, central defense was initially ridiculed as a “child’s bar”, but it quickly became a trademark of BVB in the Klopp era.
But Hummels also witnessed the disintegration of this team, which began at its peak. Nuri Sahin went to Real Madrid in 2011, Shinji Kagawa to Manchester United in 2012, Mario Götze to FC Bayern in 2013, he was followed by Robert Lewandowski in 2014. When the successors of these stars also left in Ilkay Gündogan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in 2016, Hummels himself also decided to to leave BVB. He decided to move back to Bayern – not least because he no longer saw any prospects in Dortmund at the time. He seemed to be right, because afterwards Ousmane Dembélé and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also turned their backs on Borussia.
The man in the mask: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moved to Arsenal FC in London
Source: pa / Bernd Thissen
Hummels is all the more pleased that BVB is now doing everything in its power to keep the current team largely together. “It’s always good if you don’t have a lot of fluctuation, especially in the regular player area. In Achraf Haikimi we lost a player who played a lot, otherwise we stayed together. So there is a big chance that we will get better next season and take another step forward, ”he said. Especially since the new alternatives – the experienced Thomas Meunier as a right-back substitute for Hakimi and the young talents Jude Bellingham and Youssoufa Moukoko – definitely have prospects.
As far as the existing quality is concerned, Hummels sees BVB “absolutely in the field of a top team”. He is convinced that Dortmund do not have to hide in an international comparison – but this alone is no guarantee that they will be able to win titles in the future.
“First of all, that’s the gray theory”, he explained, referring to an old wisdom of the Dortmund legend Adi Preißler (“all theory is gray – what matters is on the pitch”). “That is the football quality that we have. Putting them on the field, in every game, in every training session – that’s what ultimately sets teams that win something apart from other good teams, ”he said. He wants to fight for BVB to become such a team. He sees this as the last major challenge of his career.
It will be important to be able to close the gap to Bayern – if this cannot be achieved in terms of economic strength, then at least in terms of consistency of the team. “You always have to be there. There will also be slips in the future, but they mustn’t happen too often, ”is how he formulates the requirements for the further development of BVB – he himself is aware that he can make a decisive contribution to this with his leadership qualities.
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