Borussia Dortmund: Nnamdi Collins’ injury more serious than initially expected

Nnamdi Collins’ knee injury is more serious than initially expected. And the Borussia Dortmund central defender is now set to be out for a few weeks. 

Nnamdi Collins suffered a knee injury during Borussia Dortmund’s pre-season friendly against VfL Bochum last week. The injury was thought to be a minor one earlier. But an MRI has now revealed that the highly rated defender faces a longer spell on the sidelines.

Borussia Dortmund head of players’ department Sebastian Kehl has told Ruhr Nachrichten that Collins will be out for a few weeks. He will not travel to the team’s training camp in Bad Ragaz, and will instead work on his rehab in Dortmund. It remains to be seen when he will be able to return to training.

Collins’ injury is a big blow for both the player and the club. The 17 year old is set to be promoted to the first team this season. And his progress will now be halted for some time. The injury also means that Borussia Dortmund do not have any available first-team centre-backs in their ranks at the moment.

Dan-Axel Zagadou and Soumaila Coulibaly are both recovering from their respective injuries, while Mats Hummels and Manuel Akanji are both still on their post Euro 2020 breaks. Hummels is also with a patellar tendon issue, and there are question marks over whether he will be available for the start of the season.

Borussia Dortmund U-23s defenders Antonios Papadopoulos, Lennard Maloney and Albin Thaqi will travel with the first-team for the Bad Ragaz training camp. And they will get another chance to impress in Saturday’s pre-season friendly against Athletic Bilbao.