Dortmund beat Barca and Chelsea to Niklas Sule signing
Stefan Bienkowski
- Updated: 7 Feb 2022 15:45 GMT
- 5 min read
Borussia Dortmund have managed to beat Chelsea and Barcelona to the signing of Bayern Munich defender Niklas Sule.
The Germany international made the move to Bayern in 2017 for a fee of €20 million but will now leave the club for free when his current contract comes to an end.
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Despite Bayern’s best efforts, the player made the decision to run down his deal and despite being heavily linked with a move to England or Spain, has now agreed to make the move to Dortmund in the summer off season.
"We are pleased that we were able to sign a German national player in Niklas Süle and retain him for four years," said Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc in a club statement.
Sebastian Kehl, who will succeed Zorc in the summer, added: "Niklas has shown us in personal discussions that he is very interested in Borussia Dortmund.
“He has a lot of experience, calmness in the build-up game and the necessary physique to take the next step with us from the summer.”
Why is Sule leaving Bayern?
While Sule has been a regular starter under Julian Nagelsmann this season, the German defender hasn’t been assured of a starting role in Bayern’s team following the arrival of Dayot Upamecano in the summer window.
And according to the player’s agent, Volker Struth, Sule was never too interested into entering serious negotiations with Bayern over a new deal, in favour of considering his options elsewhere.
“We never negotiated (with Bayern). There was only a verbal approach,” said Sule’s agent in an interview with Sport1 on Sunday.
“We met, spoke about it and I signalled at the time that the player was considering whether he wants to extend his contract. It wasn’t about the money at all.”
