Gregor Kobel is one of the guarantors of success at Borussia Dortmund. The goalkeeper always attracts attention with spectacular saves. But the 25-year-old is not immune to hair-raising missteps.
For a Bundesliga club, the question always arises as to whether it is a good sign when a club moves out of the premier league interested in one of his players. Those responsible at Borussia Dortmund are also likely to be torn as to whether they have the obvious interest of Manchester United to Gregor Kobel as a nuisance or rather as good news.
On the one hand, this means that they employ a goalkeeper who, with his special performance, arouses the interest of one of the most renowned and financially strong clubs on the planet. On the other hand, that the club could be looking for a replacement for the Swiss after the end of the season if he succumbs to advances from the British Isles.
Kobel’s contract in Dortmund is dated until the summer of 2026, which would bring BVB a handsome transfer fee in the event of an early change.
Numbers speak for Kobel
It is undisputed that the 25-year-old has played one of the key roles in Dortmund’s success story so far this season. The experts should agree: Without Kobel in the BVB goal, the team would have had no chance of reaching for the title before the last matchday. The discussions about the goalkeeper position in Dortmund, which were often loud in the past, fell silent almost abruptly when Kobel was signed by VfB Stuttgart in 2021 for 15 million euros. Kobel’s predecessors Roman Bürki and Marvin Hitz too often failed to prove that they could make the difference for their team.
Kobel has completed eleven games without conceding a goal this season. And that with only 26 games in which he was in goal. His save rate is over 74 percent, which is the second best value among the regularly used goalkeepers behind Frederik Rönnow from Union Berlin (77.1 percent). Above all, Kobel’s reflexes on the line and his strong presence in one-on-one situations have made many an opposing attacker despair. Kobel gives the defensive, which tends to be fickle, the necessary stability.
Two serious mistakes
But of course the Swiss aren’t perfect either. In the game at Union Berlin, for example, he initiated the 0: 2 bankruptcy with his momentous slip. And Kobel also made a bad mistake against FC Bayern in the top game when he didn’t hit the ball and Bayern’s Leroy Sané only had to push it in. After this game (2:4) at the beginning of April, the championship seemed as good as already decided in favor of FCB. “I’ve come back twice from injuries and twice made big mistakes”said Kobel self-critically.
“Greg is the reason we are where we are now. Greg is one of the most consistent players for us this season and arguably one of the best goalkeepers in European football right now. I told him all that again and I told him that before the team said”said BVB coach Edin Terzic after Bayern’s bankruptcy.
Accusations? none. The other games were too convincing for Terzic to even want to start a new goalkeeper discussion.
break Bayern dominance
Terzic’s insights and certainly his gut feeling did not deceive him. Kobel’s skills were and are far more valuable than the impact of those two setbacks. Most recently against VfL Wolfsburg and FC Augsburg, he again saved his team spectacularly from further goals. Now the BVB goalkeeper and his team are about to crown this extraordinary season.
Dortmund have a two-point lead over FC Bayern. With a home win against Mainz 05, BVB can break Munich’s dominance in the Bundesliga after ten years. “We are now in pole position. There will certainly be a lot of pressure. So we have to make everything as simple as possible. We just have to do our job“Said Kobel after the recent win against Augsburg. It will also be particularly important for him against Mainz.