Why Full-Back Is the Area Borussia Dortmund Must Strengthen in Summer

Things are going pretty well for Dortmund at the moment. The snow is melting, and the days are growing longer and warmer. Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp's side are slowly but surely making their way back up the Bundesliga table following a turbulent winter in the lower ranks. 

Yet with the new year comes a renewed sense of purpose and, with that, a need to reevaluate the side that brought so much torment to the Black and Yellow support throughout this season. Dortmund may yet finish in a comfortable position and enjoy a healthy run in the Champions League, but change will surely be afoot this summer. 

The most logical and perhaps notable place to start in this side is with both full-back positions. Dortmund have a host of goalscoring strikers, an array of world-class midfielders and central defenders envied across the continent, but not one of their full-backs is up to the task of matching his teammates on the pitch. 

If we first take a look at the right-back position, we find a spot in Klopp's team that currently consists of just one man truly suited for the position in a squad of 30 players. That man is Lukasz Piszczek—perhaps the best full-back at the club right now—who has undoubtedly seen better days in the yellow of Dortmund. 

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

Turning 30 this summer, Piszczek has missed seven games through injury this season, and he has failed to look anywhere near fit or sharp enough in the 27 games he has featured in to command the right-back position like he once did. 

Often regarded as one of the best right-backs in Europe just two years ago, the Polish international is now a far cry from the defender who so readily dominated an entire wing with defensive solidity and attacking threat in equal measure. 

In reserve, Klopp can turn to none other than Kevin Grosskreutz—a left-winger who has at times found himself filling in across the pitch—who possesses little skill or indeed intelligence for the role. The German international is a fan favourite and a loyal dog to his manager, but few Dortmund fans would be happy to see him filling in at right-back for any more than two or three games at a time. 

Once we get past the Dortmnd handyman, we can quickly deduce how few players can actually cover the right-back role.

Sure, Sokratis Papastathopoulos—a central defender in every possible way—has filled in a number of times this season, but he's far from any long-term solution. Dortmund not only need an upgrade on Piszczek, but they also need some depth in the position too. 

Similarly, the roster of left-backs at the club makes for an equally interesting read. 

At the moment, Klopp is reliant on Marcel Schmelzer—a long-serving full-back and perhaps the only left-footed wing player at the club—who has always been consistently average in a team full of emerging superstars. 

Schmelzer isn't a bad player by any stretch of the imagination, but being wedged between the brilliance of Mats Hummels and Marco Reus each week has done little good for the full-back's reputation. Add to that an annoying habit of roaming out of position and going to ground far too easily against pacey opposition, and you have a prime candidate for backup. Though reasonably talented, Schmelzer is anything but a first-choice left-back for a club like Dortmund. 

Such a problem once had a solution that went by the name of Erik Durm, who at just 22 years of age possessed the skill, talent and promise to finally separate Klopp from his former left-back. 

Unfortunately, the young German star has since essentially burnt out, following two heavy domestic seasons that happened to precede a World Cup in which Durm never took part but still trained and indeed worked hard.

The young Dortmund prodigy returned to the Westfalenstadion this season having witnessed his national team win the World Cup, and he looked ready to conquer all before him, but where the will looked boundless, Durm's body simply couldn't follow. Whether injured or simply dropped to the bench, Durm looked to be tired and seemed to be far from the player who burst onto the scene two years ago. 

Of course, in looking beyond the actual individual players who currently embody the holes in this Dortmund side, we must take a moment to appreciate the complete disregard Klopp has shown to the full-back positions over the course of his reign.

The last player whom the Dortmund manager signed who was specifically signed to play as a full-back was Chris Lowe in the summer of 2011. Since then, 19 have signed for the club with not a single one intending to challenge or even strengthen one of the club's two most vulnerable positions. 

Dortmund need to strengthen this summer, and they'd be foolish to start anywhere but with their full-backs.

@Sbienkowski