Has Gonzalo Castro Lived Up to His €11 Million Price Tag?

When Borussia Dortmund signed Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Gonzalo Castro last summer, expectations were high. Thanks to a release clause, the 28-year-old cost the Ruhr side €11 million (£8.7 million), which doesn't sound like a lot of money, but it still made him the fourth-most expensive player currently on the squad, per Transfermarkt.de (link in German).

Despite his relative youth, the versatile midfielder had racked up an astounding 370 professional performances for Leverkusen, so the prevalent thought was that Castro would become an immediate contributor for the Black and Yellows.

Things changed, however, when Ilkay Gundogan extended his contract at the Westfalenstadion late in June. With the midfield maestro still in fold, Castro found himself in an awkward position, or rather no position at all. He had signed with Dortmund in anticipation of Gundogan's exit and now had to scramble for playing time.

Spending only 31 minutes on the pitch on the first five Bundesliga matchdays of the season, Castro's contributions were anything but immediate.

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Once the UEFA Europa League group stage began and Dortmund head coach Thomas Tuchel started to rotate his squad on a regular basis, though, the 28-year-old slowly but steadily fought his way into the team. Interestingly, he's started 12 of a possible 15 matches in the Europa League and the DFB-Pokal, compared to 15 of 33 in the Bundesliga.

Tuchel learned to value Castro's impressive versatility during the campaign. The diminutive German has played as part of the double pivot in a 4-2-3-1, as a central midfielder in a 4-1-4-1 and on both wings this season—it's best to forget his 45 minutes at right-back against Odds BK in a Europa League qualifier in August.

He's been fairly productive, having scored six and assisted 11 goals across competitions, which doesn't even include a high number of pre-assists he's accumulated. 

With his passing skills a notch below Gundogan's and Julian Weigl's—Dortmund's entrenched pairing in the middle of the park—he's not a great fit for a central role in Tuchel's possession-oriented system, but his ingenuity in the final third has provided an important spark time and time again:

Somewhat surprisingly for such an experienced player, Castro's form has been up and down the entire campaign. He followed up his slow start with an impressive autumn, topping Bleacher Report's ranking of Dortmund players in November.

Another slow start after the winter break saw him fail to make the squad and any sort of impact when he did see the field early in 2016, only for him to return to form in recent weeks.

The DFB-Pokal semi-final against Hertha BSC was perhaps a summary of his first year at Dortmund. Losing the ball again and again, Castro struggled in central midfield in the early stages. Twenty minutes into the game, however, he scored an absolute peach of a goal, passing the ball into the net with perfect technique from just outside the penalty box, as this video shows:

With the player turning 29 in June, the chances are that Dortmund won't see a lot of growth from Castro, who signed a deal that will keep him at the club until 2019. It's unlikely he'll become more than he is: a utility player, one of the best "12th men" in the Bundesliga.

As such, he has a lot of value for the Black and Yellows. ESPN FC's Stephan Uersfeld (link in German) even called him the best signing the club has made in the last two seasons, although Weigl would have a lot to say about that in this writer's opinion.

Even though he didn't meet all expectations, Castro certainly was worth the investment. That €11 million isn't a ton of money for a spot starter, especially not in the current climate. He's played a better season than the likes of Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Matthias Ginter or Adrian Ramos, who all cost the club a similar fee, per Transfermarkt.

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