Borussia Dortmund’s young Argentinian central defender, Leonardo Balerdi, has been linked with a move away to Ligue 1 side, Olympique Marseille, for a while now. It is speculated that the German side will loan him out to the French side without a purchase obligation/option.
Balerdi has made only 8 appearances for BVB, starting only once in the Bundesliga 2019/20 season. His only start was in a shocking 4-0 defeat against Hoffenheim, in the club’s last game for the season. He is clearly way below the pecking order of centre-backs at the club. It is necessary that he starts to get some game-time at the age of 21, otherwise it would be a waste of talent. Dortmund have recognised this, hence they are willing to loan him out.
He signed for Dortmund from Boca Juniors for just over 15 million Euros in January 2019. He would ideally have liked to have a couple more games under his belt in the black and yellow jersey. This is possibly one of the main reasons why Balerdi would be open to a different team, even if it is in a different league.
Borussia Dortmund’s Managing Director, Michael Zorc, has spoken out on a possible move for Balerdi to Marseille. He said, “He should win game practice.” The reason Dortmund don’t want to include a purchase option is that they expect Balerdi to develop into one of the finest defenders in the footballing world soon enough.
