At his pre-match press conference ahead of their Champions League clash against Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund head coach Nuri Sahin revealed that centre-back Niklas Süle will miss the next few months with an ankle injury.
Süle came off in the 83rd minute in Dortmund’s draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday having only recently came back from an injury suffered back in October. The injury is the same one he had suffered back in the autumn where he tore his syndesmosis, which is a ligament in the ankle, after ” someone stepped on him or fell on the same spot twice, without blaming anyone.”
During his press conference, Sahin said:
“Niklas Süle will be out for a few months. He has a serious injury.”
Adding:
“I spoke to Niki on the phone last night. We have to let the diagnosis sink in first.” It is not yet clear whether the defender will be treated conservatively or undergo surgery.”
Due to Waldemar Anton still missing due to a muscular injury, Emre Can is likely to replace Süle in defence for their game against Barcelona on Wednesday.
Ever since moving from Bayern Munich on a free transfer in 2022, Süle has never reached the heights that were promised when he joined. The 29-year-old was meant to lead Dortmund’s defence into the future and help sure it up alongside Mats Hummels and Nico Schlotterbeck, but injuries, poor form and the fact that he has not been in good physical shape has hampered his time at the Signal Iduna Park.
This season looks like it will follow the same pattern after it looked promising in the summer.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
