Borussia Dortmund’s Roman Bürki to join MLS side St. Louis City SC in the summer
Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki is set to join St. Louis City on a deal until the end of the 2025 season, the club has announced.
Borussia Dortmund will part ways with Swiss shot stopper Roman Bürki come the summer as the team’s former number one is set to join St. Louis City in the MLS. The team itself is an MLS expansion team set to have it’s maiden season in 2023, and Bürki will be joining the club as one of it’s bigger profile signings.
The 31 year old said a few words about his time with the Black and Yellows, stating that “it was an honor” to have played for Dortmund over the course of the last 7 years. The former Swiss international made 232 appearances for Die Schwarzgelben, winning 2 DFB-Pokals in the process.
Bürki’s time in Dortmund can be summarized as a genuine rollercoaster in terms of his form. The Swiss keeper was able to put in some sublime performances, with impressive saves that were as eye catching as they were critical.
Bürki’s main problem over the course of his Dortmund career was his ability to remain consistent. His dips in form would be abysmal and costly for his side, which led to the signing of Marwin Hitz, a fellow Swiss keeper who was meant to provide competition and push Bürki to improve. For some time this worked and Bürki’s form improved in order to maintain his place in the starting XI.
Over the course of the last 18 months, however, Bürki has not been able to re-capture his form of old. With the signing of Gregor Kobel, it’s been clear for some time now that Bürki would not be featuring in Dortmund’s future plans. The level of consistency Kobel has shown, in addition to being frozen out of the first team has forced Bürki to look for pastures new.
When Bürki came from SC Freiburg in July of 2015, he was seen as the long term heir to club legend Roman Weidenfeller. He was a talented young keeper with much promise. And while Bürki’s inability to remain consistent was indeed a factor in how the trajectory of his career has gone, he also wasn’t helped by lacklustre defending from those in front of him.
With this move to St. Louis, Bürki will get a new lease of life. The move, which was heavily motivated by the fact that Bürki was in search of guaranteed playtime, will be beneficial to both the player and club. The club will be able to re-invest his wages in someone who will be part of their future project long term, and the player will be able to hit the reset button and find himself between the sticks once again.
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While Roman Bürki’s time at Borussia Dortmund will be viewed as a very mixed bag, his contribution to the club and its history is here to stay. One would hope that now that the club and player are parting ways, Bürki can be remembered for his professionalism and solid performances over the last seven years. I wish him well on this new journey and hope he can rekindle his fire for the game in these new and uncharted waters.