5 Borussia Dortmund Players Whose Stock Tumbled in the 2014/15 Bundesliga Season

At the end of the day, football players are no more than assets owned by a club that vary in value from one season to the next. 

A number of factors can affect the value of any given player: age, wages, contract length, previous transfer fees and, of course, form. So a star signing one summer could find himself in the bargain bucket the next. There are a few players like that at Dortmund. Former gems who have since stumbled onto hard times and look a shadow of their former selves.

Here are five whose stock has undoubtedly dropped this season. 

Lukasz Piszczek

Associated Press

We kick off today's list with a full-back who has truly struggled to make much of an impact this season despite his best efforts. 

Lukasz Piszczek, long considered a quality player who commanded the right-back position as his and his alone, has since fallen victim to a string of injuries that have pushed him back down the list. Missing 16 games this season would knock any player off his perch. 

Now Dortmund have Erik Durm, a young, talented full-back who can attack and defend with pace in a style similar to his Polish counterpart. He's a player for the future who can and most likely will take Piszczek's place in the squad. 

Sven Bender

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

At 26 years of age, there is still plenty of time for Sven Bender to become the player that Dortmund thought he would be when they signed him back in 2009. 

Unfortunately, this season will go down as something of a write-off for the defensive midfielder, who has often looked like a player still struggling to overcome the hamstring injury that kept him out for almost two months last season.

Last year, Bender was making waves and knocking on Joachim Low's door for a spot in his German squad for the 2014 World Cup. Now, he looks like a player who's struggling to keep his spot in Dortmund. 

Roman Weidenfeller

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Many players on today's list have gone through long, extended periods of poor form this season, yet none have actually been dropped for a significant period of time—except for goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller. 

Although the senior shot-stopper may have been removed from the side for shouting at others just as much as he was for his form, this was most definitely the year in which Dortmund fans confirmed a long-held suspicion: They need to replace their goalkeeper. 

In a league populated by some of the best, youngest and brightest goalkeepers in the world, Weidenfeller has looked error-prone, slow and downright tired throughout this campaign. 

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Michael Probst/Associated Press

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has had another useless season at Dortmund. Sure, he may have created two goals and four assists in the club's last six Bundesliga games, per Transfermarkt, but such a purple patch in form will go down as too little, too late for many eagle-eyed fans. 

The Armenian's work ethic is unquestioned. He's never found standing still with his hands on his hips. Instead, the attacking midfielder is constantly chasing down opponents like a one-man swarm desperate to annoy his opponent to the point of insanity. But that's only half the job. 

This season has shown Dortmund just how much work must be done to turn this expensive signing into a player who can one day replace Mario Gotze or even Marco Reus at the club.

He may have the talent, but he hasn't transformed that into enough goals or assists this season.

Marcel Schmelzer

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

Although Marcel Schmelzer has long been considered the weak link in Dortmund's defence, the left-back has driven many fans to the point of frustration this season.

Unlike Piszczek, who has gone through a notable run of injuries, or Weidenfeller, who may just be getting old, Schmelzer is exactly as he as always been: just decent enough to make it into Klopp's side. 

For a club with ambitions like Dortmund's, that simply isn't good enough. This average left-back simply won't do if Thomas Tuchel is going to drag this side back to the top of the Bundesliga.