Dan-Axel Zagadou out for the Season with Persisting Knee Injury

Borussia Dortmund announced on their Twitter today that center back Dan-Axel Zagadou will be sidelined for the remainder of the season, in a massive blow to Dortmund’s exceptionally thin back line. Daxo has been a huge player at times for BVB, and his inability to string together any run of games this season has placed tremendous strain on Mats Hummels and Manuel Akanji. Die Schwarzgelben will now see out the the months of April and May with only two natural center-backs in one of the most crucial stretches of fixtures in the season.

Dortmund’s German Twitter account went a step further to note that Zagadou will undergo another knee operation in an attempt to fix the ongoing issue he has been unable to overcome since April, 2020. He has missed 24 games of the current season according to Transfermarkt, a worrying trend for the towering Frenchman who holds tremendous potential at his young age.

Knee injuries are tricky business, but frustration is certainly growing among the Dortmund fan base with the physio team as to why they cannot seem to bring Zagadou back to full fitness. But one could point to a player like Ansu Fati, who despite being even younger than Zagadou, is being evaluated for a THIRD knee surgery to fix his ongoing issues. The physio teams at clubs like Dortmund or Barcelona are the best of the best, but Zagadou’s severe knee issues have plagued his career at Dortmund, especially when it looked like he was ready to make the jump into a full first-team option. Given the recovery time of his surgery, it is not likely Daxo will be going anywhere this summer. Hopefully, this final surgery will set him straight and he will back on the path to great things in black and yellow. But if not, Dortmund’s first signing of next season, Soumaila Coulibaly, will be eyeing up the chance to push the oft-injured Zagadou out of the team.