BVB Close to Completing Signings of Salih Özcan and Alexander Mayer

What an exciting day for BVB fans! In a quick turn, rumors arose this morning about the potential transfers of Alexander Meyer, the goalkeeper for FC Regensburg, and Salih Özcan, a defensive midfielder for FC Köln. The rumors quickly turned from fiction to fact, and it is expected that both signings will be announced tomorrow!

Meyer replaces the outgoing Marwin Hitz, a player who will be truly missed at the club. Hitz has served as an admirable No.2 between the sticks, staking his claim for starting position at the end of last season. The veteran keeper was replaced by Gregor Kobel, but he will be remembered for some excellent games in Black and Yellow. Hitz is likely to return home to Switzerland with FC Basel, seeing out his playing career more on the field than on the bench.

Alexander Meyer arrives after several seasons in the 2. Bundesliga.

According to Fbref, the keeper batted away 83 of 122 shots that made it toward his goal this season, about a 66% save ratio. For reference, the goalkeeper for league winners Schalke was at about 67%. I do not know much else about the keeper, but his numbers are solid, and he will be a good addition to the goalkeeping brigade.

Salih Özcan comes in with an exciting CV, having excelled for FC Köln in the last few seasons.

He is a midfield enforcer, something BVB lacked this season after the departure of Thomas Delaney and the decline of Axel Witsel. Özcan is arriving for a tremendously low fee if reports are to be believed, marking another tremendous transfer by Fußballgott Sebastian Kehl.

This is a tremendous transfer for BVB. Özcan will shield the new BVB duo of Niklas Sule and Nico Schlotterbeck, and bringing all three in before the training camp has even begun will allow them to arrive together, build chemistry, and be ready to take on the league come August.

Fellow BVB fans, I am excited. I hope you are too! No longer are we stuck sitting by while Dortmund solves all of their problems by signing left midfielders (*cough* Mario Götze Andres Schurrle Jadon Sancho Thorgan Hazard Julian Brandt Raphael Guerreiro). Kehl is balancing the squad, and Salih Özcan could prove to be a key piece of that puzzle.

Leave your thoughts on these transfers in the comments below!