Borussia Dortmund's restructuring: The winners and losers of Edin Terzic's departure

Loser: Nicholas Fullkrug

For Niclas Fullkrug, life under Nuri Sahin may be different to what he's been used to so far at Dortmund. While moving to a better side, Fullkrug’s npxG went up to 10.5 in the Bundesliga this past season. His returns were particularly disappointing and his lack of pace was on constant display.

Fullkrug, despite being a good player, has seen his weaknesses highlighted in Dortmund. This will make him a bad fit for his side and these limitations are the same things that Sahin has previously required to be strengths of his forwards. With a better season Fullkrug could have cemented an opportunity to start for Sahin but 9 goals in 26 Bundesliga starts would be concerning for any coach.

The saving grace for Fullkrug has been his creative work. The underlying numbers suggest a regression however. Fullkrug’s 8 league assists could go down while still being good for a striker, however his 3.1 xAG is fairly average especially when playing alongside Donyell Malen who is more of a striker and excels in getting on the end of chances. Nicholas Fullkrug is a good Bundesliga caliber player but with a coach who has historically preferred athletic strikers Fullkrug can be seen as a loser of the coaching change.