Borussia Dortmund announce number changes for Haaland, Zagadou and Morey

Several Borussia Dortmund players made changes to their jersey numbers on Friday, with some key departures leaving new numbers available.

Both Achraf Hakimi and Mario Gotze have officially left Borussia Dortmund now that July 1st has past with Hakimi joining Inter Milan on a permanent move and Mario Gotze leaving as a free agent. Their moves made the number 5 and 10 available for the existing squad and that sparked a flurry of changes in the Dortmund first squad.

Here is a look at the players who changed numbers.

Thorgan Hazard 23 -> 10

This number change was actually a bit of a surprise as Thorgan Hazard was the player to take over the number 10 jersey that was vacated by Mario Gotze. I think everyone expected Julian Brand to take over the number 10, but he will keep his number 19.

Hazard is still a worthy number 10 in his own right, he quietly had a solid first season with Dortmund. He racked up 7 goals and 13 assists in 33 appearances this season, now they aren’t Sancho numbers but those are very respectable.

For context, Hazard had more goal involvements this season than Kai Havertz, who had 12 goals and 6 assists and carried around a lot more hype. Not saying Hazard is better than Havertz by any means just illustrating how solid his season was before anyone gets to criticizing.

Erling Haaland 17 -> 9

Erling Haaland is taking over the number 9 role now that Paco Alcacer has left the club. When Haaland joined, Alcacer was still with the club as it was before the start of the January transfer window. With that now behind Haaland it makes sense he makes the switch with the shirt now available.

Emre Can 27 -> 23

Emre Can chains onto Hazard’s change in number and is taking the newly vacated number 23. Can is another player making a number change after his first season with the club.

Dan-Axel Zagadou 2 -> 5

With Achraf Hakimi departing the club Dan-Axel Zagadou has taken over his number 5 jersey. This must be a matter of preference for Zagadou as he already had a first team number in 2. Nothing major here, mainly just annoying for fans who bought a Zagadou jersey after his breakout season last year.

Mateu Morey 22 -> 2

Mateu Morey jumps on Zagadou’s vacated number 2 which has a bit more significance than some of the others as Morey is moving into more of a first squad number. After his impressive performances to finish this past season he has jumped in line to fight for a starting role next season. With Hakimi gone, the likely only real options at right back are Thomas Meunier and Mateu Morey.

Although Meunier has more experience, if Morey is able to continue the way he finished this season he will have a real shot at game time.