It had been hinted at, and now it’s official: Mats Hummels and BVB are going their separate ways. After a coach squabble and an interview bombshell, it was a quiet farewell. No thunderous applause from the south stands, no cheers from the team, no touching farewell video. Undignified, say many after 13 years in black and yellow. Hummels too.
Shortly after the announcement of his departure from BVB, the defender star addressed the fans with a long message. In it, he speaks frankly – about his emotional years in Dortmund, but also about how he was treated at the farewell. The words give a deep insight.
Mats Hummels: Open words of farewell
He came in 2008 as a talent. A loan from Munich, whom BVB turned into a permanent signing with their last nest egg. Nobody could have guessed what would come of it. Two championship titles, a double, two Champions League finals – after 13 years in Dortmund (and an interlude at Bayern), Hummels leaves as a legend.
+++ Borussia Dortmund: After Terzic’s departure and Hummels’ bombshell – next decision is imminent +++
But everyone probably imagined the farewell differently. Especially the world champion himself. His last few months were not only marked by speculation about his future, but also by problems with coach Edin Terzic. The two were no longer on good terms – Hummels publicly expressed harsh criticism and is said to have even given the bosses a choice: “Him or me?”
“Doesn’t do justice to our time together”
“An impertinence,” is how sports director Kehl and the new managing director Lars Ricken are said to have felt and made the decision to leave for him. Now the separation has been announced – coolly and dryly. The letter from Mats Hummels himself, which followed shortly afterwards, was much more emotional. And it contained a clear message to BVB.
“It’s incredibly difficult for me,” writes the 35-year-old, searching for words. “Above all, the manner in which it happened makes me very sad, because this impersonal farewell does not do justice to the time we spent together.” Mats Hummels would have loved to say goodbye personally to the fans who had supported him for so long. “But unfortunately that’s how it is sometimes in this business and the day will come when we can make up for it in front of the Yellow Wall.”
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Hummels also provides insight into the decision-making process: “I chose this departure to some extent myself because I deliberately did not want to make an early decision about my future.” He also blames himself for Terzic’s departure. “The influence of a 35-year-old player who does not know how his career will continue from the summer onwards was certainly not as great in recent months as the media sometimes makes it out to be.