3 Players Whose Borussia Dortmund Career Could Come to an End in the Summer

Although Borussia Dortmund still have everything—including silverware in three competitions—to play for, the upcoming transfer window already looms large. 

Much of the talk, naturally, centres on the "big three": Mats Hummels, Ilkay Gundogan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all have contracts expiring in 2017 and soon need to make a decision, as the club will look to cash in on players who won't commit themselves to the club long term.

Rumours are already running riot, most of them baseless, of course. It seems as though Gundogan has agreed to join four different clubs by now, for example.

The truth is no one knows what will happen at this point, not even those players themselves. What we do know is there will be some changes to Dortmund's squad, as always.

It's unlikely going to be as busy a summer as the last was for sporting director Michael Zorc, who's in charge of the transfer business for the Black and Yellows—no fewer than seven first-team players left the club while four came in—but some decisions apart from the big three (four, if one counts Marcel Schmelzer) await.

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Here, B/R takes a look at three players whose careers at Signal Iduna Park could come to an end in the summer.

We'll exclude the aforementioned players and those, such as Jakub Blaszczykowski, who are set to return from loan spells.

Joo-Ho Park

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South Korea international Joo-Ho Park was a late addition to the squad in the summer, signing from Mainz in the last few days of the window in August. The versatile 29-year-old had played under Tuchel for the 05ers and looked like a good fit for Dortmund, who needed a full-back who could play right away after Erik Durm suffered a knee injury during the offseason.

Apart from scoring a stoppage-time winner in his first outing for the Black and Yellows, a 2-1 win over Krasnodar in the UEFA Europa League, Park hasn't shown anything to suggest he has the quality to be a factor for the Ruhr side.

He's only played in nine games across competitions, starting just four league games. Since Durm has returned to the team and to form quickly after the turn of the year, Park has struggled to even make the bench. After starting the first game of the Ruckrunde, as the second half of the season is called in Germany, a 3-1 win over Borussia Monchengladbach, Park hasn't seen the field and only made the squad twice.

Things aren't going to change anytime soon. As long as Schmelzer and Durm are fit, opportunities for Park will be few and far between, as Tuchel alluded to in a press conference in February, relayed by Dortmund-based writer Stefan Buczko:

In danger of losing his spot in the national team and too young to be on standby at best, Park should leave in the summer. The club won't hold him back.

Neven Subotic

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Unlike Park, Neven Subotic has played fairly well when called upon this season. With the club since 2008, the former Serbia international is one of the longest-serving players at the Westfalenstadion.

With that in mind, it seems likely that the club and the 27-year-old will part amicably in the summer. Subotic is the fourth centre-half on the depth chart behind Hummels, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Sven Bender, who's converted from defensive midfield with great success this season.

A fan favourite, Subotic has appeared in only 11 matches across competitions this season. Heavily linked with a transfer to England for quite some time, Subotic should have no shortage of suitors if he decides to leave the club in the summer. His performance in the Europa League against Tottenham Hotspur surely left an impression:

Adrian Ramos

We'll make it short since we highlighted Adrian Ramos' situation in this earlier piece. Dortmund are likely going to invest in a younger striker fairly soon, as they prepare for the eventual departure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Since they play with only one true central forward, Ramos would be the odd man out in that scenario.

Despite good performances in his few opportunities to shine, the 30-year-old likely doesn't feature in the club's long-term plans, making a summer sale a distinct possibility.

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.