Why Mats Hummels Is the Dortmund Player Who Would Benefit from a January Move

The return of the Bundesliga season is fast approaching and nobody is quite sure which Borussia Dortmund will show up to play Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the month. 

On one hand, we may find a new, rejuvenated team that have simply had enough of the deterioration at their own hands in this current league campaign. Yet, on the other hand, it may be more of the same and more trouble for Jurgen Klopp. 

Before the competitive football returns, the German side will, however, have to dance through another two weeks of January transfer gossip and rumours as players get linked with moves in and out of the club. 

But what if Dortmund were to do some smart business with a player who would perhaps be better suited to leaving the troubled side this month? What if Mats Hummels, the club captain, were to finally take up an offer and leave Klopp’s squad this month?

Dortmund fans will note just how often this talented defender has looked subpar and far from the man who regularly shows up for the Germany national team or, indeed, when the spotlights were on him in past Champions League campaigns.

Hummels may have at one point been the best defender in European football, but you’d find very few Dortmund fans who would pick him over a fully fit Sokratis Papastathopoulos or Neven Subotic at present.

Which then raises the question, do Dortmund even need him?

Although the struggling Bundesliga side have, well, struggled this season, little of what any combination of central defenders has offered has either helped or hindered the downward spiral.

It has in fact been Klopp's team’s inability to score, not defend, that has seen them plummet down the German league table. 

What’s even more bizarre is that the former German champions are actually very well-stocked for central defenders. Aside from Hummels, they have the aforementioned Sokratis and Subotic, who have both been far more consistent than their senior team-mate, as well as young signing Matthias Ginter. 

The former Freiburg star may be far from the finished article and nowhere near ready to step into a first-team role, but he will come good eventually. At that point, Klopp will have four solid defenders fighting for two spots, meaning someone will have to hit the road. 

Despite being a truly outstanding servant to the club over his time in Dortmund, Hummels’ fall from grace has been made all the more notable through the manner in which the entire squad have fallen down the form table to find themselves fighting relegation. 

This is, of course, far from a fault that one could blame entirely on Hummels, but it says a lot about his nature as captain that despite Klopp’s best efforts, neither he nor his trusted centre-back can diminish the horrid tone and morale that seems to plague the side.

Rather than playing well in spite of his side, the player has often found himself at the centre of the drama that has besieged Dortmund on the park. Far from leading by example, Hummels has in fact been one of Klopp’s worst performers this season. 

Whichever way we look at it, Hummels simply hasn’t been a very good captain for Dortmund this season.

The other obvious point here is the stupid amount of money that has been bandied about for the Germany international’s signature.

To skim but a fraction of the “news” from the abyss of transfer rumours surrounding Hummels’ proposed move to England, we can quickly see the likes of the Mirror on January 15 pointing out that Manchester United were willing to fork out £150 million to bring Hummels and a select few others to Old Trafford. 

Even if that translates to something equating to £20-30 million for the defender, it’s still a remarkable amount of money for a player who hasn’t had a good game for Dortmund in over a year. Sure, he's a World Cup winner, but he's not exactly someone that Klopp’s side desperately need anymore. 

With that money, Dortmund could continue investing in younger, hungrier players without having to directly replace the departing centre-back. They could receive an extravagant amount of money for an ageing, deteriorating player and with it the opportunity to make some smart moves before the end of the January transfer window.

The club needs a new right-back, another defensive midfielder and perhaps even a new goalkeeper before too long. Let Klopp cash in on Hummels—no matter what he may mean as a status symbol—and invest elsewhere in the squad.