The Next To Go, The Mystery of BVB's #14

How big of a Borussia Dortmund fan are you? Lets see, can you name their #10? Of course you can, it's Henrikh Mkhitaryan! What about their #1? Oh please, I can't fool you; it's Roman Weidenfeller, BVB keeper since 2002! Ah hah, I think I have you now, who is Borussia Dortmund's #14? Chances are you don't know.

His name is Moritz Leitner, the central mid-fielder who has worn Dortmund's #14 jersey since January 2011. At the age of 23, Leitner's five years at Dortmund has been a failure to say the least. Bought as a teenager with considerable hype, he has only featured in 56 first team matches, registering zero goals, five assists and has been sent out on loan twice, both of which has been unsuccessful. His most recent, to Vfb Stuttgart, ended at the beginning of this season and since his return he has featured 10 times for Dortmund's U-23s and made two flat appearances in the Europa League. Expect to hear his name more often though, as he will surely be the next player BVB looks to ship off in the January transfer window.

Occupying the same type of central mid-field role as Ilkay Gündogan and summer signing Gonzalo Castro makes his chances for first team playing time extremely low. And his lack of first team experience would probably mean that Thomas Tuchel would rather slot another starter in that place temporarily than give Leitner a start. On top of that, he is the perennial subject of transfer roomers during windows, and always the first to have their place on the team questioned after they close.

The rumors surrounding Leitner at the end of the summer transfer window reported a move in winter was very likely and looking at his numbers they certainly support the claim. So the question concerning Dortmund's #14 isn't whether or not he'll be sold, but why hasn't he been already?