Opinion: Evaluating Borussia Dortmund’s summer signings

Marcel Sabitzer: 6/10

Marcel Sabitzer comes into the squad as a replacement for Mahmoud Dahoud, who has joined Premier League side Brighton.

The Austrian international moved to BVB from rivals Bayern Munich in July. In his own words, a loan move to Manchester United in the second half of last season helped him to gain his confidence back. That has slowly translated well in his demeanour and performances early on in his Dortmund career despite results not reflecting very well on many players in the squad thus far.

Sabitzer has begun the season in the starting XI. In the last game against Heidenheim, he found himself involved in attacking plays but was wasteful in finishing his chances. This was an encouraging forecast of the versatility he could provide this season.

A concern regarding Sabitzer is his injury record. Between March and June of this year, Sabitzer missed games for Manchester United in three separate spells which really disrupted his rhythm to build on-field relationships with colleagues.

Borussia Dortmund will be hoping that they can manage Sabitzer’s fitness well enough. Even if they did, I would expect Nmecha to grow in his role and end the season as the favoured player over Sabitzer in the strongest XI.

At the price of around €15million, Sabitzer was a smarter buy but Borussia Dortmund will likely find it difficult to consistently rediscover the player that made headlines at Leipzig during a transitional season.