Saved millions in salary
Borussia Dortmund let Thomas Meunier leave six months before the end of his contract. The 32-year-old is moving to Süper Lig fourth-placed Trabzonspor in Turkey, where he signed a contract until 2025. There is no transfer fee for the Belgian right-back, but BVB is saving the remaining salary until the end of the season – around 3.5 million euros.
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The transfer window is already closed in Germany, but in Turkey it is still open until February 9th. Even though Meunier has recently appeared in the Bundesliga eight times in a row, he hasn’t had an easy year before. Only the failures of Marius Wolf (28), who only had to miss one game, and Julian Ryerson (26) brought him back into the BVB team.
The Norwegian, who had been out since the beginning of December due to an inner knee ligament injury, returned to training on Monday and completed the entire session. The playing times for Meunier would have fallen rapidly again in the coming games. In addition to Ryerson, Gregor Kobel (26), Julian Brandt (27) and Marco Reus (34), who were recently ill, as well as the long-injured Karim Adeyemi (22) and Julien Duranville (17) were back on the pitch. Whether the sextet is an option for the upcoming home game against SC Freiburg on Friday (8:30 p.m.) will only become clear as the week progresses.
Meunier moved from PSG to Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2020, as the most valuable free transfer signing in BVB history at the time. He played 83 games (three goals) for the black and yellow team. With more playing time at Trabzonspor, the 62-time Belgian national player could possibly be recommended for the European Championships coming up in the summer.
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14 Cedric van der Gun | 2005 | Market value: €1.2 million
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13 Marcel Lotka | 2022 | Market value: €1.3 million
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10 Philipp Degen | 2005 | Market value: €2 million
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10 Robert Kovac | 2007 | Market value: €2 million
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10 Dongwon Ji | 2014 | Market value: €2 million
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Came from FC Augsburg | BVB performance data: 5 games, 1 assist
7 Giovanni Federico | 2007 | Market value: €2.5 million
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7 Lukasz Piszczek | 2010 | Market value: €2.5 million
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7 Shinji Kagawa | 2010 | Market value: €2.5 million
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6 Markus Feulner | 2009 | Market value: €3 million
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Came from 1. FSV Mainz 05 | BVB performance data: 20 games
5 Steven Pienaar | 2006 | Market value: €3.5 million
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Came from Ajax Amsterdam | BVB performance data: 27 games, 1 assist
4 Marwin Hitz | 2018 | Market value: €4 million
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3 Ramy Bensebaini | 2023 | Market value: €20 million
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2 Thomas Meunier | 2020 | Market value: €24 million
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1 Niklas Süle | 2022 | Market value: €35 million
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“This week there was a short-term opportunity for Thomas to join a new club before the end of the transfer period. We have complied with his wish for this change, would like to thank Thomas for his commitment and wish him all the best for his sporting and private future,” said sports director Sebastian Kehl. At Trabzonspor, Meunier will receive a salary of 850,000 euros until the end of the season. In the next season he will receive a salary of 1.5 million euros and 500,000 euros in bonus money for his signature.
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