Borussia Dortmund announced the signing of Swiss goalkeeper Roman Burki on Sunday. With it, it seems Mitch Langerak has hit a yellow wall.
Since securing a dream move from Melbourne Victory to Borussia Dortmund in 2010, Australian goalkeeper Langerak has played the role of understudy to long-time No.1 Roman Weidenfeller, warming the bench for much of that time.
Langerak finally saw more minutes at the Westfalenstadion throughout the second-half of season 2014-15 after Weidenfeller was relegated to the bench, having endured a run of poor form.
Being the cup custodian, too, Langerak was selected ahead of Weidenfeller in both the DFB-Pokal semi-final against Bayern Munich and the final against Wolfsburg. Dortmund was humbled in that match 3-1, in what was a day to forget for the Queenslander after a match-winning performance against Bayern.
The final also marked the end of the fabled reign of Jurgen Klopp, the man who brought Langerak to Germany.
Now he is gone, and successor Thomas Tuchel has well and truly begun the process of making the Dortmund squad his own. The former Mainz manager has already signed Gonzalo Castro, Julian Weigl and now goalkeeper Burki.
Langerak has always insisted he is willing to bide his time in order to secure regular game time at Dortmund, but the signing of Burki should come as a body blow and will test his loyalty and patience – everything suggests he is now third in line.
The former Freiburg custodian played every league match last season and kept nine clean sheets, averaging 3.5 saves a match as his team was relegated. Langerak had a better rate of clean sheets kept, but with only nine games under his belt in a much better team.
Perhaps of more importance, however, is the fact that Burki is 24-years-old and played on a regular basis. Langerak is now 26, 27 in two months, and was in and out of the Dortmund team, so it is highly likely the new boss’ preferred shot stopper will be Burki, not to mention he is Tuchel’s own signing.
Of course, 34-year-old Weidenfeller is still on the books, and looks likely to stay at Dortmund with another season remaining on his deal. A servant of Dortmund and a true Bundesliga stalwart with 339 caps, he would provide ideal competition and reserve to the new man between the posts.
With competition high, selection far from guaranteed and age factored in, Langerak would be best advised to hit the classifieds and find himself a new home if he intends on getting the best out of his enormous promise.
When thinking about what lies ahead in terms of club football, Langerak must also consider his future with the national team. Despite being four years older, Adam Federici is hot on the heels of the former South Melbourne loanee as Mat Ryan’s number two and will be mixing it with the best after moving to Premier League new boys Bournemouth.
The national team itself cannot afford Langerak to be languishing in the reserves. Even with Ryan going from strength to strength, Ange Postecoglou will be eager to have as many competing glovemen at his disposal as possible.
The Socceroo will be out of contract at the end of the upcoming season, but should he remain at Dortmund until then, he risks stagnating at a crucial stage of his relatively young career. A sale would be a win-win for both parties.
The waiting and uncertainty that would lie ahead with a Dortmund stay is simply not worth it. It is time to move on.
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Very well written Fruc, huge improvement from your earlier pieces