Marcel Sabitzer is already making a big impact at Borussia Dortmund after his short-lived Premier League loan spell at Manchester United.
A league champion at Bayern Munich and Red Bull Salzburg, not to mention a Carabao Cup winner at Manchester United, Marcel Sabitzer was snapped up by Borussia Dortmund not only for his qualities on the pitch but because of his vast experience and his vocal leadership off it too.
A callow BVB side threw away the title on a crushing final day in May. The hope is that, with a player like Sabitzer now through the door, Edin Terzic’s side can go one better in 2023/24.
“In the case of Marcel Sabitzer, I am 100 per cent sure that he will help us,” CEO Hans Joachim Watzke tells BILD of his new signing; the former RB Leipzig captain joining in a £16 million move from old rivals Bayern.
“Marcel is exactly the player we need in our midfield.”
Marcel Sabitzer now at Dortmund after Man United spell
Despite a couple of eye-catching interventions – that glorious backheel against Fulham, those two goals against Sevilla, those super displays against Leeds United and Leicester City – Man United opted against turning Sabitzer’s loan into a permanent transfer at the end of 2023/24.
For all his qualities, his prodigious work ethic and his fearsome ball-striking ability, Sabitzer arguably lacked the poise in possession to really thrive in an Erik ten Hag team, Mason Mount arriving instead.
Marcel Sabitzer praised
Former Dortmund coach Peter Stoger, meanwhile, believes Sabitzer will bring to the Dortmund dressing room something that was sorely lacking during last season’s apocalytpic collapse.
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“It’s a great move for Marcel and certainly a very good transfer for Dortmund,” Stoger tells the Austria Press Agency. “I don’t think his quality was there in the squad.
“Marcel has developed tremendously in recent years and has become a leader. They didn’t have a player like that, especially in the midfield. They have (Emre) Can and (Salih) Ozcan, but Marcel is a player who is more dangerous in attack than the other two.
“On the other hand, he’s someone who knows how to defend (from the front).”