Manchester United: Ten Hag follows up against BVB returnee Jadon Sancho

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This is how the players, whose comebacks were due in the millions, fared.

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When Andreas Möller came from Eintracht Frankfurt in 1988 for €1.25 million, he was the most expensive purchase in BVB history. In 1990, as world champion, he returned to the SGE on a free transfer, although he publicly stated that he wanted to stay.

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Four years later he ended up in Dortmund again via the Juventus Turin route and once again set a transfer record with a transfer fee of €4.6 million. Money well spent: In his second attempt for black and yellow, he played an important role in the Champions League victory in 1997, won two German championships and the World Cup.

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Jörg Heinrich also won the Champions League in 1997, and a year later he moved to Florence with coach Giovanni Trapattoni for the equivalent of 25 million marks – for nine years he was the most expensive German footballer.

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“My intention was to move to the best league in the world at the time and become Italian champion,” said Heinrich in the TM interview. Nothing came of it and so he went back to Dortmund in the summer of 2000 and became champion there for the second time in 2002 after 1996 with BVB.

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After Heinrich, there was a twelve and a half year break in terms of returning players before Nuri Şahin arrived on loan from Real Madrid in January 2013. At the peak of his career, the then 22-year-old midfielder left Westphalia for €10 million via an exit clause to the Royals. After a knee injury at the start of the season, Şahin didn’t really catch on and only played eight games before a six-month loan to Liverpool. Things went better there, but still not as good as they once did at BVB. During these 18 months, its market value fell from 20 million to 10 million euros.

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The Dortmund team signed the prodigal son permanently for 8 million euros following his successful one-and-a-half-year loan in the summer of 2014. This was followed by three seasons marked by injuries and one season as a supplementary player.

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In 2014, Shinji Kagawa, the next player from the last championship squad, returned. Two years earlier, as one of the most spectacular footballers in the Bundesliga, he moved to Manchester United for €16 million, where he was rarely able to impress as a follower. His market value fell from €20 million to €10 million and BVB got the former fan favorite for just €8 million.

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Two seasons followed as a regular player with some strong moments, but the Japanese was no longer able to match the performance from 2011/12. From 2016 onwards, his playing time became increasingly rare due to injuries, before he left for Besiktas on a free transfer in 2019.

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In 2016, the summer when Mats Hummels moved to his youth club FC Bayern, Borussia brought back their most valuable homegrown product: Mario Götze. In 2013, the transfer of what was then the DFB’s greatest hope caused a media sensation that hardly any other transfer caused in Germany. Bayern activated the exit clause in Götze’s contract for €35 million, shocking not only Jürgen Klopp but the German football world. One World Cup winning goal and 36 hits in 114 games for Munich later, Götze put on the BVB jersey again.

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The playmaker from the championship years of 2010 and 2011 was brought back for 22 million euros, but was no longer able to exude the magic of that time. At the time of the transfer, his market value had fallen from a peak of €55 million in January 2014 to €28 million. Due to a metabolic disease and many minor injuries, Götze rarely lived up to the high expectations – the performance did not match the salary. Götze has a special role among the BVB returnees due to his illness and in the end it just didn’t work out anymore.

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With a transfer fee of €30.5 million, Mats Hummels is not only the most expensive BVB returnee, but alongside Andy Möller he is also the player who has and still does the best during his second attempt at Signal Iduna Park. In 2016, the central defender went to Munich for 35 million euros and a market value of 38 million euros, and in 2019 he returned with a market value of 35 million euros.

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Due to the transfers of Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez, the record champions no longer needed Hummels – BVB didn’t have to be asked twice and made the defender the most expensive purchase in the club’s history at the time. Even at the age of 35, Borussia has the second most appearances in the club’s history (490 games), behind Michael Zorc (572).

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At the age of 17, Sancho came from Manchester City’s youth ranks in 2017 and, after a year of getting used to it, became one of the most exciting offensive players in the world from the 2018/19 season onwards. This was followed by three seasons with over 30 goal participations each and a record market value for the Bundesliga of 130 million euros in March 2020. After months of transfer poker, Man United was awarded the contract for 85 million euros in the summer of 2021. Around 13 million euros of this transfer went to Man City, which had a share in the resale.

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Since the end of August 2023, Sancho has not played a role in Man United coach Erik ten Hag’s plans. He accused him of a lack of commitment and removed him from the squad. Sancho wants to get his career back on track at his old place of work.