Dan-Axel Zagadou and Soumaila Coulibaly expected to return in late summer at earliest

Borussia Dortmund are likely to be without two of their central defenders for the majority of pre-season. Both Dan-Axel Zagadou and Soumaila Coulibaly are training individually at the moment. 

Borussia Dortmund fans could have to wait some time longer before they see either Dan-Axel Zagadou or new signing Soumaila Coulibaly take the field. The French duo are still set to be sidelined until late summer, according to sporting director Michael Zorc.

Zorc stated while speaking to Sport1 that both are still training individually but are making good progress towards their respective recoveries. “Coulibaly and Zagadou have been in Dortmund for some time. They are training individually and are both are making progress. It’s hard to say when exactly they will be fit to play again. We expect to have them back in late summer.”

Die Schwarzgelben will be happy to have both available at the earliest occasion to provide cover for the first choice center back pairing of Mats Hummels and Manuel Akanji. Both Hummels and Akanji put together strong performances in the Euros for their respective nations of Germany and Switzerland, and for the time being will be backed up by Emre Can and academy prospect Nnamdi Collins.

In the case of Zagadou, it is likely that he will slot back into his supporting role in defense to give either Akanji or Hummels a rest from time to time, but the same likely can’t be said for his fellow PSG academy graduate Coulibaly.

Coulibaly’s injury, an ACL tear, has kept the youngster away from the pitch for quite some time. He will certainly not be rushed into the first team anytime soon, with the club likely to take a similar approach to the one taken with Mateu Morey.

With Coulibaly and Zagadou still out, it is no surprise that there are persisting rumors linking Borussia Dortmund to Mainz defender Jeremiah St. Juste. While there hasn’t been any official bid for St. Juste as of yet, talks have indeed been said to have been held between the two clubs over the possibility of a transfer.

The additional advantage for Dortmund, should they make a move for St. Juste, is his versatility and ability to play right back as well. The tactical flexibility would give Marco Rose more options to include the defender in his plans moving forward, and give Dortmund cover in two positions that have been lacking the sort of depth they need for quite some time.