“I think he’s still leaving a lot. I want him to take a step forward in his attitude, in his mentality,” said Flick in an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Wednesday) about the 27-year-old BVB player , who is missing in the German squad for the upcoming international matches. “For me, Niki could be one of the best central defenders there is. His potential is huge,” said Flick.
The 58-year-old had already worked with Süle at Bayern Munich. According to his own statement, Flick was partly disappointed by the performance of the 45-time national player when he was eliminated from the preliminary round at the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year. “I was 90 percent satisfied. But the ten percent that are missing make up the difference. That’s what matters to me,” said Flick, who had lined up Süle in all three preliminary round games in Qatar. “I think every national player should have the right to make the most of their potential. Getting through with less – that’s not my mentality.” He sees a “danger” in the fact that 80 percent could be enough for Süle in the league.
For the upcoming international matches against Ukraine, Poland and Colombia, Flick has nominated Matthias Ginter, Thilo Kehrer, Antonio Rüdiger, Nico Schlotterbeck and Malick Thiaw for central defense – on the other hand, he has not used the long-standing DFB regular Süle. Flick said he wanted to be “defensively compact” with a three-man defense. “We are very well positioned for this with our selected squad.”
Bellingham joins Real Madrid for €103m
Borussia Dortmund loses another football gem in Jude Bellingham. The 19-year-old England international is moving to Real Madrid after three years at Revierclub. The listed Bundesliga club announced this in an ad hoc report on Wednesday. The lavish transfer fee of 103 million euros plus possible bonus payments up to a maximum total of around 30 percent of the fixed amount relieves BVB of some of the grief over the big sporting loss. “The contractual details still have to be agreed and documented,” the statement said. The English international’s contract with BVB ran until 2025.
The departure of another key player with a lot of prospects is now part of Dortmund’s DNA. Similar to Erling Haaland (Manchester City), Jadon Sancho (Manchester United) or Ousmane Dembélé (FC Barcelona), the club is required to close the gap that has arisen as quickly as possible. The high proceeds for Bellingham make it easier to find an adequate replacement.
With Ousmane Dembélé, who switched from BVB to FC Barcelona in 2017 for around 140 million euros, only one player in Bundesliga history has brought in more money than Bellingham. Jadon Sancho from Dortmund also ranks third on this sales list. The departure of the dribbler to Manchester United flushed 85 million euros into the club’s coffers in the summer of 2021.
Bellingham, who was signed by the English second division club Birmingham in 2020 at the age of just 17 and cost around 25 million euros at the time, quickly proved to be a stroke of luck for BVB. With great commitment and a good overview, he became a crowd favorite and an English national player within a few months.
This increased its market value considerably. Even Liverpool FC, which was traded as the new Bellingham club for a long time, got out of the transfer poker weeks ago in view of the lavish fee. What remained were the royals from Madrid, who are gradually looking for replacements for Luka Modric (37) and Toni Kroos (33), who have been guaranteeing success for years.
Bellingham is the sixth exit after Raphael Guerreiro, Mahmoud Dahoud, Luca Unbehaun, Felix Passlack and Anthony Modeste. Strong fighting and playing newcomers should help Borussia to overcome the trauma of the championship that was lost on the last day of the game. “I think that we will reinvest around 60-65 percent of the transfer fees that we achieve in this period,” announced managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke recently in the “Bild”.
In Wednesday trading on XETRA, the BVB share temporarily gained 3.13 percent to 4.46 euros.
FRANKFURT / DORTMUND (dpa-AFX)
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