Borussia Dortmund’s Sébastien Haller coy about his future with the club

Borussia Dortmund’s Sébastien Haller was nominated for the “Comeback of the Year" at the Laureus Award ceremony this week, with the Ivory Coast International’s nomination resulting from his great victory over cancer and return to play the sport he loves for BVB. Haller’s nomination is a recognition of the struggle the player has gone through, and the overall perseverance and strength he had showed to come back stronger and play an important role on both the club and international level. 

Haller’s crowning achievement of recent months was to score the winning goal for Ivory Coast in the AFCON final, a pinnacle that really brought Haller’s recovery full circle and underlined just how immense of an achievement his victory over cancer and return to the sport has been. Before the awards ceremony, Haller sat down to talk about several topics, including his future at the conclusion of this season.

When asked about his future, Haller was intentionally vague, stating that it made no sense for him to give a concrete answer as things change very quickly in football: 

"I have to live with the rumors [about a possible farewell] but quite honestly: I don't know myself at the moment what my future looks like. I can say today: I'm staying and something will happen tomorrow - I've experienced that too often. I don't put any pressure on myself or I'm in a hurry - my goal is now the semi-final with BVB."

- Sébastien Haller

Haller’s performances both for Dortmund in recent weeks and the aforementioned decisive goal in AFCON may suggest otherwise, however based on the striker situation in Dortmund it remains to be seen just who will be chosen to lead the line next season. In the case of Haller, if he is not seen as the primary striker, it may be best for him to move on for the sake of his own career, which is the perspective from which his comments may be coming from. 

As Haller notes however, the focus right now is on the Champions League Semi finals, a position Haller and the club did not expect to find themselves in. Now that they are however, Haller called for continued cohesion and zero doubts so that they can bring their best game to make sure they reach the final: 

"No one expected us in the semi-finals, probably not even ourselves (laughs). But that's why we love football, there can always be such stories. We can be very proud of that. Now we have to continue with what has made us strong in this competition: cohesion, team spirit, top attitude. We don't have time to doubt, but want to go to the end now - that's our dream. In the league, 4th place is the minimum, because the Champions League must always be the goal for a club like Dortmund."

- Sébastien Haller

Haller’s goals reflect a bold approach; an approach that he himself has applied to his own recovery and career thereafter. While the player is currently sidelined due to injury, he did his part against Atletico Madrid to help his teammates get through the tie. It’ll be up to his teammates to do the rest, but Haller’s fighting spirit will certainly be a significant source of motivation for them to make these dreams a reality, even if he himself cannot affect the results on the pitch.