The world-class spine of Ballon d’Or contenders that Borussia Dortmund let go
One current and five former Borussia Dortmund players were on the Ballon d’Or shortlist, leading us to wonder about what might’ve been at the Signal Iduna Park.
Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy made the shortlist, voted 21st ahead of the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Florian Wirtz and Michael Olise, but imagine the team that the Bundesliga giants could have were they able to hold onto their greatest talent.
Here are the five former Borussia Dortmund players who made the 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist, and where they ranked.
Ousmane Dembele – 1st
“Thank you to all the clubs I’ve played for: Stade Rennes, Borussia Dortmund, and the club I always dreamed of playing for, Barcelona,” Dembele said in his Ballon d’Or acceptance speech.
The current holder of France Football’s prestigious Golden Ball award feels like the poster boy for Dortmund’s post-Klopp era.
As with so many others that came after him, including a couple of notable names on this list, Dortmund snapped up Dembele when he was a highly-rated teenager at Rennes. He remains their record signing at just €35million.
It took less than a season for the French forward to look worth several times that.
“Have described Ousmane Dembele as future Ballon d’Or winner. I believe it, but does anyone else?” tweeted European commentator Kevin Hatchard in April 2017.
A few months later he was Barcelona-bound, the Catalan club using a massive portion of the world-record fee they received for Neymar on his anointed successor.
Dembele had his moments at Barcelona, playing his part in three La Liga titles, but it’s safe to say he only discovered his consistent Ballon d’Or-worthy form at PSG.
Who knows what trajectory his career might have taken had he viewed Dortmund as a final destination, as opposed to a stepping stone on the path to the very top.
Achraf Hakimi – 6th
Dortmund enjoyed Hakimi’s services on a two-year loan deal from Real Madrid.
The Morocco international, now widely considered the world’s best right-back, was reportedly keen on making the move permanent but Dortmund baulked at Los Blancos’ €40million asking price.
That looks a disastrous decision now. He really is one that got away.
Robert Lewandowski – 17th
It was obvious that Lewandowski was destined for bigger things the night he scored four goals against Real Madrid.
How do you hold onto a striker that good? One who’d become the third all-time top goalscorer in Europe’s top leagues? Spoiler: you don’t.
After firing Klopp’s Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles, he saw out his contract and moved to arch rivals Bayern, where he scored 238 goals in 253 Bundesliga appearances, playing an integral role in them winning a historic eight titles in a row.
Most of them at Dortmund’s expense. That’s gotta sting.
Jude Bellingham – 23rd
One to file alongside Dembele.
The midfielder arrived at Dortmund as a teenager, saw his stock rise exponentially season on season, and was eventually sold on for a gargantuan profit.
It’s not especially romantic, but that’s a perfect example of Dortmund’s selling model working exactly as intended.
The only regret will be not winning more while Bellingham blossomed into a world-class midfielder. He only lifted a DFB Pokal during his three years in Westphalia.
Bellingham won a La Liga and Champions League double in his debut season with Real Madrid and saw his contribution rewarded with a place on the Ballon d’Or podium, the first Englishman to end up in the top three since Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in 2005.
Erling Haaland – 26th
From Lewandowski to Aubameyang to Haaland to Guirassy today, Dortmund have done pretty well to recruit dependable No.9s. There haven’t been too many gaps where they haven’t had one.
Admittedly, in an alternative reality where Dortmund held onto their best players, there wouldn’t have been any need for them to have any more than one of these at any one time.
Haaland might’ve been the very best of them, though.
After actively decisively to snap up Haaland when he was European football’s hottest property at Red Bull Salzburg, it was always implicitly understood that they were only there to offer the terrifying Norwegian goal machine a temporary platform before moving up to the very elite.
He lived up to his end of the bargain as an absolute force of nature for Dortmund, scored 50 goals in his first 50 Bundesliga games, a record in a top European league… until he himself broke it at Manchester City.
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