Marcel Schmelzer to Continue Rehab With Borussia Dortmund After his Contract Ends

Marcel Schmelzer will be afforded the opportunity continue to rehabilitate at Borussia Dortmund, despite being out of contract soon. Both Kicker and Ruhrnachrichten are reporting that should Schmelzer choose to continue playing elsewhere, that Dortmund will be happy to see him off wherever he chooses to go. This is a class move by the club to take care of their longest serving player, even if he has not been able to contribute much over the past few seasons. In fact, it is also being reported that the club wishes to integrate Schmelzer back into the club for his post-playing career in some capacity.

Injuries and form have taken a toll on the former BVB club captain, as he has only made 21 appearances in all competitions over the past three seasons. However, we should not forget that Schmelzer was an integral part of the Jürgen Klopp era winning Dortmund’s first title in nine years in the 2010-11 campaign. In fact, Schmelzer played the full 90 minutes in all 34 fixtures that season and was named to the Bundesliga’s team of the season. Schmelzer followed up the title winning campaign by starting another 28 Bundesliga matches the next season en route to winning a second straight meisterschale, before capping off the campaign in style with a 5-2 smashing of Bayern Munich in the DFB-Pokal final in Berlin. Schmelzer continued to play an important role helping Dortmund make it to the all German 2013 Champions League Final at Wembley Stadium, however, the club fell to the mighty Bavarians 2-1 on that day.

Keeping club legends close to the game is a pivotal part of telling the story at Borussia Dortmund, and I am glad that Schmelzer has been earmarked to do just that. One should totally understand if he wishes to move on and play somewhere else for a couple of seasons since he will not be of the caliber to play for Dortmund any longer. Whenever Schmelzer decides to hang up his boots, I am sure he will be successful in whatever role he wishes to play at BVB in the future, and this is precisely what is special about our club.