Why Borussia Dortmund should not sell Ömer Toprak | OneFootball

On Wednesday, Ruhr Nachrichten reported that centre-back Ömer Toprak is on the verge of joining Werder Bremen. With the ambition of winning the league and a deep Champions League run, this would be a mistake.

You don’t have to look much further than Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich to see why Ömer Toprak is going to be a massive asset for BVB this season — if they keep him that is.

When Michael Zorc and his team of football geeks sat down to analyse why the Black and Yellows blew a nine-point lead to Bayern Munich in the second half of the season, one of the major takeaways was, so they said, the lack of experience at the back.

The club then turned around and broke their own transfer record, shelling out €30.5m (+€7.5m in possible bonuses) for 30-year-old Mats Hummels.

“Mats brings his class, his vast experience to the table,” Zorc explained in Bad Ragaz, adding: “He knows the club, the people who are in charge and also large parts of the team. He knows what it takes to win, he can deal with that pressure. He performs when everything is at stake.”

Last season, Manuel Akanji, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Abdou Diallo, Achraf Hakimi and Julian Weigl – as a centre-back – all did not perform under pressure when everything was at stake in the second half of the season.

Yes, Dortmund’s backline was ravaged by injuries, forcing Favre to change the line-up nearly every game. But that doesn’t fully account for a lot of individual mistakes and, more worryingly, tactical malpractice.

The 2019-20 season will be long and strenuous. Hummels and Akanji, who will form the starting centre-back pairing, will not be available for every single game — including high-profile games. And the question has to be asked: Who do you trust the most to replace them. At the heel of the past season and a pre-season, the answer is Toprak.

Dortmund cannot afford to lose this much coolness

Apart from the fact that Dortmund would struggle to replace his impeccable fashion sense, the 30-year-old didn’t flinch one bit against Bayern in the Supercup, displaying the routine of a 324-game veteran.

Of all defenders on the field, he arguably committed the least positional errors. Toprak was not goaded out of his backline, nor did he commit to tackles when it wasn’t necessary. He managed to suffocate Bayern’s counter-attacks just by his positioning, allowing other teammates to track back which is a much-underappreciated trait.

The former Leverkusen captain also wasn’t fazed by Bayern’s high press, unlike Akanji, who had his pocket picked by Leon Goretzka in front of his own box in the 23rd minute, which resulted in Bayern’s biggest chance of the first half. Indeed, the minimisation of errors is the highest priority for a defender.

It is understandable that Toprak would seek a move to the Weserstadion, where he would become an automatic starter again after not being one at BVB for several seasons.

Reportedly, Toprak is ready to slice his €5m salary in half to complete the move but Dortmund have a hard decision to make.

When Lucien Favre was asked on Wednesday whether he’d prefer to keep the centre-back, the coach nodded and said with a canny smile: “He played very well against Bayern. Period.”

Do you trust Zagadou and Balerdi?

Abdou Diallo has joined PSG for €32m after Hummels returned to the Westfalenstadion, which would leave the Black and Yellows with 20-year-olds Zagadou and Balerdi behind their starting CBs if Toprak were to exit as well.

Zagadou has undoubtedly the potential to become one of the best defenders in the game. He combines ball-playing skills and physical attributes like few others but he is still very error-prone. His focus drops, he makes tactical errors and he doesn’t always jump for headers.

Dortmund fans will hope that the Frenchman makes another step forward in his development but in a tight title race in March or April or a Champions League quarter-final, Zagadou’s lapses could come costly.

Meanwhile, Leonardo Balerdi, who joined BVB for €15m from Boca Juniors last winter is still completely unproven in the Bundesliga. He might be a great prospect for the future but the time is now and Dortmund cannot afford to average over 1 goal against per game. Their defence finished only 4th best in the Bundesliga with 44 goals conceded in 34 games — about 10 too many.

Toprak is the reliable middle ground between the two starters and two youngsters. The only other alternative is Weigl but he might be needed in midfield this season and is very tired of acting as a stop-gap centre-back. TYVM.

The bottom line is: Selling Toprak at this point would be a lateral slide on socks because it’s risky business and contradictory to BVB’s own assessment that they lacked experience at the back last season.

Toprak was expected to leave Dortmund at the end of the last campaign but the club did not manage to find a viable alternative and now it’s too late.

Maybe a championship could be a consolation for him?