Neven Subotic Is Borussia Dortmund Man with Most to Prove After Internationals

When Neven Subotic got dressed for work for Sunday's "Revierderby" against local rivals Schalke 04, he didn't sit next to team-mates in the locker room. Instead of his yellow jersey with the No. 4, the former Serbia international put on his Sunday best.

The 26-year-old got to introduce his foundation before the game, as the club had called for donations to the "Neven Subotic Stiftung," an organisation that aims to provide access to clean water to people in need in Africa's poorest countries. 

While Subotic's charitable work can't be lauded enough, presenting it in person before the game must have stung, for it was only possible because he wasn't in the squad for the all-important Revierderby. 

The charismatic defender, a long-time stalwart under Jurgen Klopp, has sat in the stands far too much for his liking this season. He's played a grand total of two games from a possible 22 under Klopp's successor, Thomas Tuchel—despite Dortmund's fairly obvious problems in defence (h/t Marcus Bark of Sportschau.de, in German).

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He missed 10 games with a back injury but has been fully fit since mid-October. In the six games since his return, he's made the Dortmund squad only once: He sat on the bench for 90 minutes against FK Qabala in the UEFA Europa League.

Subotic's last appearance on the pitch came on October 1, when the regular centre-back pairing of Mats Hummels and Sokratis Papastathopoulos got rested in the Europa League match at PAOK Salonika. In that game, a 1-1 draw, he played alongside Sven Bender.

Bender, a defensive midfielder by trade, has overtaken Subotic in Tuchel's centre-back ranking, getting three starts at the heart of defence and being called up as the lone back-up on the bench numerous times this season. Tuchel has explained Subotic's not even making the bench with Bender's versatility, as ESPN FC's Stefan Buczko relayed.

Subotic is now fifth in the pecking order, as one would have to imagine Matthias Ginter, a revelation at right-back, would be preferred to the Serbian in the middle the event of an injury bug biting Dortmund. This is in stark contrast to the better part of Subotic's seven-year Dortmund career.

Subotic and Hummels, born less than a week apart in December of 1988, formed one of the Bundesliga's premier centre-back partnerships under Klopp's tutelage. The Serbian, who retired from international football in 2014 (h/t Bleacher Report's Allan Jiang), went on to play a total of 247 games in the highly successful Klopp era. 

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A torn anterior cruciate ligament, suffered against VfL Wolfsburg almost exactly two years ago, changed his fortunes. He simply hasn't looked the same ever since: He was never one of the fastest defenders in the league, the injury made him even slower; his distribution was always a weak point of his game, and after the injury it became even more obvious. 

Subotic did, however, reclaim his regular starting spot last season, with 40 appearances in all competitions during Klopp's last year at the club. The Black and Yellows even extended his contract, which was set to expire next summer, until 2018, much to the delight of the fans who still have a special place in their heart for one of the genuinely good guys in football. 

With his standing under Tuchel at a historic low, however, it is more than difficult to think Subotic will see out his contract at the Signal Iduna Park. 

An end to Subotic's run at Dortmund, perhaps as early as this winter, seems far more likely. The English press is already full with rumours of a reunion with his former mentor Klopp, now, of course, manager at Liverpool. German football writer Raphael Honigstein believes a deal could happen, according to Metro's Sean Kearns.

Apart from the obvious link to "The Normal One," Subotic seems tailor-made for the English game, something he acknowledged himself when speaking to Kicker (h/t Stephan Uersfeld of ESPN FC). 

He won't go without a fight, though. 

On that note, the November international break might have come at a very welcome time for Subotic. Hummels, Sokratis and Ginter, three of the four defenders in front of him, are away on international duty. The 26-year-old has two weeks to make his mark on the training ground and convince Tuchel that he should give his No. 4 a chance.

The Westfalenstadion faithful would be happy to see one of their favourites put on his real work gear again.

Lars Pollmann is a featured columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for Yellowwallpod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.