First, it was Mario Gotze. Then it was Robert Lewandowski. Now, Borussia Dortmund could lose yet another faithful servant to Bayern Munich – their captain Mats Hummels.
Dortmund officially confirmed on their website yesterday that Hummels requested a transfer to Bayern Munich in the summer. The 27-year-old defender has been linked to numerous European clubs, most notably Manchester United. But it looks loke he has his heart set on Munich.
“Defender Mats Hummels has communicated his desire to leave the club in the summer and join league rivals Bayern Munich next season.
Borussia Dortmund's board has decided to make such a change depending on whether Bayern Munich produce an offer of the right value. So far, Bayern Munich have not made an offer.
It is pointed out that no exit clause has been agreed and the player is tied to Borussia Dortmund until June 30, 2017.”
Football fans have been outraged on social media over how the Bavarian giants are destroying their competition with big budgets and tapping up their best players. While that may seem to be the case, it is not entirely fair to blame Bayern for trying to sign their best players.
More: 6 players who switched between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund
Hummels wants to ‘return’ to Munich
Make no mistake, while Lewandowski and Gotze had no links to Munich at all, Hummels does. In fact, the centre-back is a product of the Bayern Munich youth academy. He was loaned to Dortmund in 2008 with no room for the youngster in the senior squad which already had the likes of Lucio and Daniel Van Buyten while Martín Demichelis had been converted back to a defender by Ottmar Hitzfeld.
Hummels also has family in Munich. As die-hard football fans, at times, we tend to forget that players are also human beings who make decisions that help better their lives – especially those that bring their families closer together.
“I believe that if he [Hummels] goes, it will be in the direction of Munich,” said Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke. “He still has unfinished business with the club. His father, his mother and his brother all live in Munich.
“His wife comes from Munich, he’s from Munich too – so a whole lot of components have already come together.” Indeed, he met his wife Cathy Hummels in Munich during his time at Bayern.
“To forbid Hummels to leave would be small-minded,” he had said on a talk show. “We have to accept that someone playing for Dortmund for eight years and getting 28 starts to think about his situation.” Hummels has made 26 starts in 31 games this season.
The fact that he is also leaving for another Bundesliga team instead of the cash-rich shores of England shows that money has not played a role. With the kind of silly money thrown around for and at footballers in England, the Premier League has attracted a number of stars in recent years.
The Bavarian club can match his wages of €10m a year which is approximately £150K per week – easily affordable for Premier League clubs. And the new television deal will only make it easier to attract top talents – but not Hummels.
Hummels is not leaving for free
The fact that Hummels has been open about it and allowed Dortmund to do what is best for both parties shows that he has not left them hanging. The defender has a contract till 2017 and next season would have been his final year.
If he had stayed another year, he would have been a free agent at 28 – an absolute steal for a footballer, let alone a defender.
“I understand many fans are disappointed,” Watzke said. “Nevertheless, it is important for me to make clear that Mats has behaved impeccably.
“He has been open and honest with us at all times.”
The club’s CEO understandably does not want any hostility directed at Hummels at the end of the season, especially when a title challenge, although improbable, is still a mathematical possibility.
Dortmund still hold all the cards in this scenario. Bayern have not yet made an offer for their captain. But if they do, they will have to cough up a fee that exceeds Hummels’s current market value. His current transfer value is €32m. Dortmund will expect a fee in the region of €35-40m if Bayern are to sign him.
“If the club isn't ready to pay a lot of money, he has a contract in Dortmund,” Watzke continued. “And I am sure that he has no problem with continuing playing for Dortmund.”
It’s a win-win situation for both clubs as Hummels gets a move to a club where he can still challenge for titles, Bayern get a top quality defender and Dortmund have the necessary resources to allow Thomas Tuchel to sign a replacement.
Why the situation is different from Lewandowski and Goetze
While many have this belief that Gotze and Lewandowski were mercenaries with no loyalty to the club that made them stars, there are other factors to consider.
Gotze had a release clause in his contract and Bayern opted to activate it, even if it made a 20-year-old the most expensive German player of all time. For Gotze, it was also a chance to work with Pep Guardiola.
“I cannot make myself 15cm smaller and learn Spanish,” Jurgen Klopp said at the time. While it was a thinly-veiled attack on the Bayern juggernaut, Dortmund had lost a player with a lot of potential.
In hindsight, it was probably the wrong move with Gotze reduced to warming the bench. His future could be decided this summer and a return to Dortmund is on the cards. Perhaps, a player swap?
Lewandowski, on the other hand, felt he was not getting his due with respect to the wages offered to him. He was promised an increase in wages which was fully deserved after his 34 goals in the league and Europe, but he never received it until he made the desire to join Bayern known.
In contrast, Hummels has been thoroughly professional. He has informed the club before the transfer window, before contract negotiations, and he has not waited to use his final year at the club as a bargaining chip.
