Borussia Dortmund defender Leonardo Balerdi set for permanent transfer to Marseille
Borussia Dortmund defender Leonardo Balerdi is set to join French side Olympique Marseille on a permanent transfer.
This is being reported by Kicker, who add that Borussia Dortmund will receive a transfer fee in the region of 11 million euros plus bonuses for the Argentina international. Kicker also report that after taking the bonuses and loan fee into account, BVB will make a small profit on his transfer.
Balerdi joined Borussia Dortmund from Boca Juniors for a fee of around 15 million euros in January 2019. But he failed to break into the starting XI and was limited to just eight first-team appearances (and one start) for the Black and Yellows. The 22 year old then joined Olympique Marseille on a season long loan deal last summer.
Balerdi made 25 appearances for Marseille across all competitions this season and became a regular starter under Jorge Sampaoli. He said in April that he would like to stay in Marseille beyond the end of the season. And his performances have now prompted the French side to make his loan move permanent.
Balerdi will become the third player to leave Borussia Dortmund this summer (after Jeremy Toljan and Lukasz Piszczek). According to Ruhr Nachrichten, it still remains to be seen what the future holds for the other three loanees (Marius Wolf, Immanuel Pherai and Sergio Gomez). The trio aren’t expected to be a part of BVB’s plans for next season.
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Borussia Dortmund have already made two new summer signings, with goalkeeper Gregor Kobel joining from VfB Stuttgart and highly rated defender Soumaïla Coulibaly arriving from Paris St. Germain.