Will BVB be Able to Keep Hold of Nico Schlotterbeck?

In some ways, it isn’t too disappointing for Borussia Dortmund supporters when one of the club’s players gets linked with a move elsewhere. Sure, it will always be rubbish to see your best performers leave for pastures new, but on the other hand, this is something that supporters of the club have seen happen time and time again.

There is the joy of watching someone play really well, tinged with regret at the fact that it means that they won’t be around for all that much longer. The latest player that fans are bracing themselves to have to say goodbye to is Nico Schlotterbeck, but why is he such hot property in the Bundesliga?

Who is Nico Schlotterbeck

Born in the town of Waiblingen in Germany on the first of December 1999, Nico Cedric Schlotterbeck joined the youth team of his local side, SG Weinstadt, in 2007. After seven years of making his way through the youth system, he moved to Stuttgarter Kickers before heading to VfR Aalen and then on to Karlsruher SC.

In 2017, ten years after starting to play football at SG Weinstadt, he was signed up by the youth academy of SC Freiburg and began to impress. In fact, he impressed that much that he was soon promoted to the club’s second string, making his debut in 2018 and remaining in the team for a year before getting a senior call up.

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That came on the ninth of March 2019, with Schlotterbeck coming on as a replacement for Philipp Lienhart at half-time in the 2-1 win against Hertha BSC. At the end of July 2020, he was sent on loan to Union Berlin for a year and when he returned he was part of the reason that the club made it to the final of the DFB-Pokal final, losing on penalties to RB Leipzig but performing well enough to be named Man of the Match.

That was enough to capture the attention of Borussia Dortmund, who signed him on a five-year deal for €25 million on the second of May 2022, joining the club immediately and making an impact on the first team.

Why he is so Sought After

During the 2023-2024 campaign, Schlotterbeck won 71% of his tackles, which was the highest rate of any player in the Bundesliga. Not only that, he won possession 240 times and was one of the big reasons why BVB made it all the way to the final of the Champions League, which they ultimately lost to Real Madrid.

Having already been called up for international duty by Hansi Flick in the September of 2021, plating in a FIFA World Cup qualification match, he made his actual debut for the national side in the March of the following year during a friendly game against Israel, which was enough to see him in the squad for the World Cup in Qatar.

He was later named in Germany’s squad for the European Championship in 2024, in which Germany finished top of their group before being knocked out by Spain in the quarter-finals, with Schlotterbeck being booked in the 89th minute. His performances at every level throughout his career have been enough to ensure that he has remained on the watchlist for many of the biggest clubs in football, with every team hoping to compete at the highest level aware of the importance of a top-class defender.

In the modern game, defending is a role that not everyone can do, so the fact that Schlotterbeck can is what makes him so appealing.

Will he Stay at Borussia Dortmund?

The most important thing about Schlotterbeck, from the point of view of Die Schwarzgelben, is that he signed a five year contract when he joined the club in 2022. It means that he is contracted there for another three years, so there is no immediate rush to sell him in order to cash in on his development and ensure that the club doesn’t lose him on a free in 2027.

The bad news is that the player himself hasn’t been shy in letting the likes of Bayern Munich know that he’ll be happy to play for them at some point in the future. Before he even signed for Der BVB, for example, he was issuing what effectively amounted to a ‘come and get me’ plea to Bayern.

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He said, “I’m not someone who really aspires to play in England or Spain. I have always wanted to play in the Bundesliga, preferably with the best team”.

Bayern were happy to let him go to Die Borussen, knowing that they would be able to go back and get him at some point in the future if he proved that he is able to perform at the top level in the Bundesliga, like they have with so many players before.

The player himself was happy to make the move, knowing that he’d be able to develop at the Westfalenstadion before heading elsewhere. The big question is whether he sticks to that declaration of wanting to remain in the Bundesliga amid interest from clubs like Liverpool.