Oliseh in/Frings out
During the last two days the restructuring of the squad started. While yesterday Frings signed with Bayern Munich for a rumoured fee of 9.8 Mio Euro, Sunday Oliseh is back at the Strobelallee after being loaned out to VfL Bochum during last season.The former Nigerian national player was the first major signing under former BVB coach Matthias Sammer. Borussia Dortmund paid back then a transfer fee of 7.5 Mio Euro to Juventus Turin to bring the midfielder back to Germany. While he managed to play regularly during his first season with BVB his playing time faded over the months and years and finally during the 2002/2003 he was out of favour. He didn’t fit into Sammer’s tactical scheme and wasn’t willing to accept Tomas Rosicky as head of midfield. Things that might go back to Oliseh’s roots (Nigerian tribe that is known for being very proud). In the return leg of that season he was loaned out to VfL Bochum. BVB still paid for an estimated 70% of Oliseh’s salary (est. 2.5 Mio Euro) just to save some money. Last season he was part of the Bochum wild bunch that finished on spot 5….with Sunday being suspended for the last matches! What happened? During a home match he started a conflict with team-mate Iranian Vahid Hashemian, now at Bayern Munich, and after the match even broke his nose! Immediately VfL suspended the player with Oliseh accepting the decision. BVB, having financial problems, noticed that there was a chance to get rid of Sunday (and his salary) by this and fired the player, despite the Nigerian having a valid contract at Dortmund till 2005. Oliseh and his advisers appealed against the termination of his contract and the case went to court. Some weeks ago the first hearing in court showed that BVB seemed to lose with Oliseh winning it all the way. So insiders weren’t too surprised that on Tuesday the club announced that BVB and Oliseh agreed to give it another try. After having talked to the other players and new coach Bert van Marwijk, who knows Oliseh from his time with Ajax Amsterdam, the officials set up a new contract that Oliseh signed. The salary will be reduced and performance-related but still valid till 2005. So Borussia Dortmund is able to “sign” a new midfielder plus they save money as they reduced Sunday’s paycheques. The player himself has the chance to show new coach van Marwijk he still is a quality player and thus avoids sitting on the stands while the case would have been in court. That probably would have killed his further career. Till here that sounds pretty smart…if there hadn’t been many quotes of the Nigerian during his spell with Bochum. Things like “I will never ever play again for Borussia Dortmund”, “Dortmund wanted to destroy my pride” and “if I have to go back to Dortmund, I’ll sit on the stands and just collect my paycheques” are still in the supporter’s ears and made most of them furious when the new contract was announced. Many feel that a player who damages BVB’s pride publicly isn’t worth wearing the blackyellow shirt. It’s Oliseh’s turn to show the fans that he has changed his mind and behaviour.
2 years ago Frings joined Borussia Dortmund for a transfer fee of 9.5 Mio Euro from Werder Bremen. While his first season offered the ambitious player the chance to play Champions League his second, and last season, with BVB was disappointing. The German national player suffered a cruciate ligament rupture and was out for 6 months. But despite having next to no match practise he came back in style in the return leg of the Bundesliga and scored 4 goals and made 9 assists. But as Borussia Dortmund need money and as Frings seemed unhappy with missing out on international matches next season Bayern Munich finally made an offer of 8 Mio Euro for the dynamic midfielder. While Dortmund initially asked for 12 Mio both clubs agreed yesterday on a transfer fee of estimated 9.8 Mio Euro that may rise to 11 Mio if Bayern is successful next season (Champions League qualification etc.). Maybe Mark van Bommel of PSV Eindhoven will be the successor of Torsten Frings as our sources told us.
Geschrieben von jonam
