Borussia Dortmund’s Kobel and Schlotterbeck train with the team after pre-season injury scares

Borussia Dortmund are increasingly optimistic regarding the injury status of both Nico Schlotterbeck and a Gregor Kobel, per RN.

With the new season looming in the not so distant future, Borussia Dortmund will be expected to have a strong performance in all the competitions they are set to be involved in. The general health and depth of Dortmund’s squad becomes ever so important for them to make these strong performances a reality. Injury concerns threaten to hamper the club in it’s attempt to do just that, with many players having picked up knocks across pre season and during international duty this summer.

While there’s been quite a bit of bad news in the injury department, new information provided by RN suggests that two of Dortmund’s key players have given the club reason for hope. Both Gregor Kobel and Nico Schlotterbeck seem to be on the mend, which will be a breath of fresh air for Die Schwarzgelben as their first competitive game is this coming weekend against Schott Mainz.

Both Kobel and Schlotterbeck were on the training ground for Dortmund on Monday, signaling that they may be available sooner than most would have expected. Schlotterbeck had to leave the club’s USA tour early after injuring his knee, while Kobel suffered a muscle injury in the club’s clash against Manchester United.

At the risk of staying the obvious, Dortmund are a much better team when both Kobel and Schlotterbeck are on the pitch. While their talent is well known at this point, they are also very much leaders on the pitch for the club, with Kobel in particular now holding the title of second captain. Alexander Meyer has done admirably in his absence once again but going into the season it will be great to see Dortmund’s entire starting back line fit and able to play together from the start.

One of the main issues the club have faced in recent years is a constantly rotating back-line that was unable to build any sort of cohesion together when on the pitch. This lack of cohesion led to a higher amount of goals allowed than the team would have liked. Cementing this back line from day one will help them learn to play together as a unit, especially considering Ramy Bensebaini’s addition this summer. Bensebaini himself will benefit from stability around him and help make this Dortmund back line a more compact and mature unit than in season’s past.