Nuri Şahin seeks to give Niklas Süle and Ramy Bensebaini new chances at Borussia Dortmund

At the end of last season, the futures of both Niklas Süle and Ramy Bensebaini were pretty uncertain at Borussia Dortmund. The former had struggled for minutes under then-head coach Edin Terzić whilst the latter picked up a season-ending injury, prior to which he had not fully impressed since signing from Borussia Mönchengladbach on a free transfer the summer prior.

Since the appointment of Nuri Şahin however, the players' positions have changed drastically in terms of chances they are getting on the pitch. Both Süle and Bensebaini have been getting first team minutes, with Süle in particular putting together a very impressive pre-season that saw him come back to the club early, put together a level high level of match fitness, and look ready to compete with Nico Schlotterbeck and Waldemar Anton in defense.

In the pre-match press conference leading up to Die Schwarzgelben’s game against Heidenheim, Şahin commented on Süle, stating that the player knows what he thinks of him, and praised his good performances. He also mentioned that, as with many players so far this season, there is still room for improvement:

"We have an extremely honest relationship. He knows where he stands with me and always gets honest feedback. I thought he was really good against Frankfurt and against Bremen, as with many other players, there was room for improvement. So far, I have the feeling that things are going well for him."

- Nuri Şahin

Both Süle’s show of commitment in pre-season and Şahin’s words indicate that Süle’s situation at BVB is healing and improving. It’s important for this process to take place and for Şahin to show support in the way he is, especially after last season’s media speculation on Süle’s fitness as a whole likely took its own toll on the player. To see him building back strongly is of course a fantastic response to the media chatter.

When commenting on Bensebaini, Şahin kept his words short but pointed, stating that the player has his and the club’s support:

"I like the player. I already liked him at Gladbach. Now its all about bringing that onto the pitch. We will support him in this."

- Nuri Şahin

Bensebaini, as mentioned, had a very rough start to life at Dortmund both due to lackluster performances and then injury issues. He completely lost his place to Ian Maatsen last season (and for good reason), but with the club opting to not bring in another left-back to compete for the position, Bensebaini gets the nod for the position (at least when Nico Schlotterbeck isn’t playing there). This still leaves the club quite thin in defense and one injury away from calamity however, so it will be a situation the club will undoubtedly be watching closely from both a fitness and performance standpoint throughout the first half of the season.

While defensive depth clearly still is a problem at Dortmund, Niklas Süle and Ramy Bensebaini have been given the chance to really stake their claims to starting and important roles at the club for the coming season. Any further moves the club makes to really ramp up competition and/ or depth will depend directly on their contributions until January, as well as their abilities to stay match-fit and retain their minutes on the pitch.