Marin Pongracic is on loan from VfL Wolfsburg to Borussia Dortmund

Marin Pongracic’s move from VfL Wolfsburg to Borussia Dortmund is perfect. The German-Croatian is on loan from BVB for one season. The wolves announced on Tuesday.

“Marin is a young center-back with speed who completes our defense,” said BVB sporting director Michael Zorc. Pongracic should start training at BVB on Tuesday afternoon.

According to reports, Borussia has a subsequent purchase option for the 23-year-old, which should be around twelve million euros.

Rose still knows Pongracic from their common Salzburg times, he played 49 competitive games under the new Dortmund coach. Pongracic can play both in the defensive center and in the right-back position.

BVB: Pongracic can defend inside and right

He should strengthen the squad width of Dortmund in defense. There are currently three central defenders in Mats Hummels, Dan-Axel Zagadou and Soumaila Coulibaly. In addition, BVB plagued on the right after the long failure of Mateu Morey, the weeks-long absence of Emre Can and the inconsistent appearances of Thomas Meunier and Felix Passlack plague abdominal pain.

Pongracic only moved from Red Bull Salzburg to Wolfsburg in January 2020 and cost VfL a transfer fee of ten million euros. For the Wolves he played 23 competitive games and scored two goals. At VfL, the German-Croat was only center-back number four recently.

Two hits, two total failures: The BVB transfers on deadline day

1/15

Marin Pongracic is a rarity because he switched to BVB on Deadline Day – the last day of the transfer window. This has only happened 6 times in Dortmund in the past ten years. Twice transfers turned out to be a coup, two were failures.

2/15

MILOS JOJIC (on January 31, 2014 for 2.2 million euros from Partizan Belgrade): Came as a player in the first half of the season in Serbia (6 goals, 7 assists) and was supposed to compensate for the serious injury to Cuba at BVB (cruciate ligament tear). But that hardly succeeded.

3/15

His lightning start – he hit his debut 17 seconds after being substituted on – was followed by three more goals in the BVB jersey. Then came the drop in performance. Transferred to Cologne after a year and a half, now back at Partizan. NOTE: 5.

4/15

SHINJI KAGAWA (on August 31, 2014 for 8 million euros from Manchester United): The prodigal son, the hero of the championship and double years, returned home. However, the Japanese was never able to build on his fantastic first BVB phase.

5/15

First again BVB regular players with average statistics. Experienced a high again in 15/16 (18 points scorer), then declined. At some point completely sidelined under Favre. Awarded to Besiktas and Zaragoza, without a club and now with PAOK. NOTE: 4.

6/15

ADNAN JANUZAJ (on August 31, 2015 on loan from Manchester United): The “highly talented and technically savvy” youngster (Zorc) didn’t get along at all at BVB, collecting mostly game minutes in the Europa League.

7/15

A total of only 518 minutes of play and three assists. At the end of the first half of the season not even in the squad. The loan was canceled, he returned to United and then moved to Real Sociedad in 2017, where things are going well. NOTE: 6.

8/15

JADON SANCHO (on August 31, 2017 for € 7.84 million from Manchester City): Came as a promising talent and left in July 2021 as one of the best BVB transfers in club history.

9/15

Debuted in the Bundesliga at 17, followed by his first goal in April 2018. Then things only went up steeply: Directly involved in 114 goals in 130 games – an insane rate. After 4 years with BVB, transferred to United for 85 million. NOTE 1.

10/15

MICHY BATSHUAYI (on Jan 31, 2018 for a $ 1.5 million loan fee from Chelsea): The batsman was supposed to compensate for Aubameyang’s short-term departure. Hardly possible, but Batshuayi hit BVB like a bomb.

11/15

The Belgian scored 9 goals in 14 competitive games before a torn ligament thwarted him. BVB wanted to sign him firmly, Chelsea took a stand against him. Batshuayi then had a hard time with the blues, currently awarded to Besiktas. NOTE: 1.5.

12/15

EMRE CAN (on January 31, 2020 initially on loan from Juventus, then firmly committed for 25 million): He should bring in the will to win, fighting spirit and BVB’s favorite word “mentality”. His aura suits BVB well, but …

13/15

… he kept commuting between the bench and the pitch, as well as the defense and midfield. In addition, often injured, somewhat limited in play and now and then an uncertainty factor – especially after his corona illness. NOTE: 3.5.

14/15

MARIN PONGRACIC (on August 31, 2021 on loan from VfL Wolfsburg): It is BVB’s seventh deadline day transfer in the last ten years. A transfer that makes perfect sense at first glance – for both sides.

15/15

Pongracic, only central defender number four at VfL, can play both inside and right in the chain – also in the BVB stomach pain position. He also knows coach Rose from shared times at RB Salzburg. Could work.

BVB schedule after the international break

date	Competition	opponent	Venue
09/11/2021	Bundesliga	Bayer Leverkusen	A.
15.09.2021	Champions League	Besiktas	A.
09/19/2021	Bundesliga	Union Berlin	H
09/25/2021	Bundesliga	Borussia Monchengladbach	A.
09/28/2021	Champions League	Sporting Lisbon	H