BVB separation after 13 years
Hummels complains about “impersonal farewell” and “untruths”
14.06.2024, 15:19
Mats Hummels’ time at the club has come to an end after a total of 13 years, according to a club announcement. The defender’s contract will not be renewed. Shortly after the announcement of the separation this summer, the 35-year-old has come forward and has a few things to clarify.
After leaving BVB, Mats Hummels wrote a “love letter” to the fans of Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. In it, the 35-year-old former world champion said, among other things, that he would have preferred a different farewell and that some “untruths and half-truths” had been spread about him recently. BVB had previously announced that Hummels would not be given a new contract after a total of 13 years in the black and yellow jersey.
“Above all, the manner in which we did this makes me very sad, because this impersonal farewell does not do justice to the time we spent together. But that’s how business is sometimes,” he wrote. One day the day will come when he will say goodbye to the fans in front of the Yellow Wall, the legendary south stand.
“I chose this departure to some extent myself because I deliberately did not want to make an early decision about my future.” Two weeks ago, the in-form Hummels was still in the final of the Champions League, but then a bitter time followed. First the final defeat against Real Madrid, then the exclusion from the European Championship by national coach Julian Nagelsmann. The end at BVB was one of these disappointments.
“Don’t believe everything you’ve read in the last few days”
In the letter, Hummels also addressed various speculations about himself. “Don’t believe everything you’ve read in the last few days. There were a lot of untruths and half-truths,” said the defender. “The influence of a 35-year-old player who doesn’t know how his career will continue from the summer onwards was certainly not as great as the media sometimes makes it out to be.”
In an interview with “Sport Bild” shortly before the match against Real Madrid (0:2), Hummels voiced clear criticism of the work of coach Edin Terzić. The coach announced his resignation on Wednesday. In recent days, there had been a media report that the defender would make a possible extension of his contract dependent on whether Terzić stayed. That is not the case now. Nuri Şahin is being discussed as his successor. What will happen to Hummels is unclear. He did not comment on this in his letter.