Hindsight can be a very unpleasant lens to look through when it comes to squad planning in football, especially in the case of Borussia Dortmund, who find themselves in what is likely one of their worst-ever injury crises of recent years. A grand total of 13 first-team players is currently sidelined, making head coach Nuri Şahin's job to pick a functioning starting 11 all the more difficult.
Of the positions affected, one of the most glaringly impacted is at fullback. Borussia Dortmund came into the season with three senior players (Julian Ryerson, Yan Couto and Ramy Bensebaini) set to compete for the left back and right back roles, supplemented by the likes of Niklas Süle, Pascal Groß (in emergency) and academy product Almugera Kabar as a secondary backup.
At face value, with the signing of Groß (who can and currently is supplementing in this position due to his ability to slot in at fullback in an emergency) and Süle's ability to play right back, the thought process seemed to be that with four main, and perhaps six options under duress, Dortmund would be set to weather any storm. Unfortunately for Dortmund, with the scale of the current crisis and lack of backup in other key positions, this has quickly proven to be a miscalculation.
In the midst of squad planning this summer, academy product Tom Rothe was allowed to leave and join Union Berlin. The talented left back was likely not shown a path to obtaining a substantial amount of minutes, and after having starred in a Holstein Kiel team that just won promotion to the Bundesliga, it's understandable that the player would have wanted assurances for more minutes. Dortmund secured a buyback clause, and at least in that sense, it was considered a good move that would allow Rothe to receive minutes and develop.