Borussia Dortmund center-back, Mats Hummels has revealed the choices that made him return to the Signal Iduna.
It came as a shock to everyone in Germany when Hummels left Bayern Munch to rejoin the side he once captained during the last summer transfer window after he had spent three stable and prosperous years with the Bavarians.
The experienced center-back had a spell with the yellow and black outfit from 2008-2016 after he was loaned before 2008 and made a return to the Munich outfit in the summer of 2016.
In a recent interview with a news outlet in Germany, Hummels explained why he solely made a move to return to Dortmund last summer, which he said it was a decision that didn’t come with much warning from Bayern Munich’s point of view.
He added that the atmosphere at Dortmund was one of the things he missed and looked forward to experiencing when making a return.
“These moments were what I missed in the stadium. We played some games that I enjoyed so much like the ones against Inter Milan, Barcelona, PSG, and Gladbach in the league. [Bundesliga]. It was because of these moments I came back. The noise, the support of the fans are something else I’ve never seen before”.
The towering center-back added that the pressure to win trophies at Bayern was always constant, and this is because of the very high expectations, and his opinion was that sometimes it obstructs the feeling of winning.
Taking a look at Hummel’s perspective, it is sometimes exciting to be under pressure because it helps you realize the task at hand and also helps to devise ways to achieve them. And that was the spirit behind the Bavarian team when Niko Kovac was in charge that season which enabled them clinched the title even when they were ten points behind.
Another factor that could have played a role in the exit of Hummels back to Dortmund was the pairing of Niklas Sule and Jerome Boateng during Niko Kovac’s era; Hummels was sparingly used, but now that he is back in Dortmund with also the support of the black and yellow wall, he has been a regular starter partnering Zagadou at the heart of the Dortmund defense.
Written by Olumide Akinnifesi
