Adrian Ramos has started training with Borussia Dortmund follwoing an extended break after the World Cup (© @BVB)
Adrian Ramos has started training with Borussia Dortmund follwoing an extended break after the World Cup (© @BVB)

Ramos jumps into Dortmund pre-season training

xwhatsappmailcopy-link

Dortmund - Following the presentation of Ciro Immobile and Dong-Won Ji this week, striker Adrian Ramos became the latest Borussia Dortmund summer signing to join up with his new team-mates after being granted an extended break following his FIFA World Cup endeavours with Colombia.

One of the three

“There’s a big challenge waiting for me but I’m really looking forward to it,” the former Hertha Berlin frontman told bvb.de after undergoing an individual training session with fitness coach Andreas Beck.

Ramos bagged an impressive 16 Bundesliga goals for the Berliners last term, but he will be keen to make an impression in his new surroundings. Part of the Colombia side that reached the last eight of the World Cup before losing to hosts Brazil, he is now set to vie with Ji and Immobile for the role of replacing Robert Lewandowski, now at FC Bayern München.

BVB have lost one top scorer in Lewandowski but have gained another in Immobile, whose haul of 22 for AC Torino made him the leading marksman in Italy’s Serie A last term. Ji is also known to Bundesliga fans after two successful loan spells at FC Augsburg, but Ramos, in his prime at the age of 28 and the best equipped of the three to be a like-for-like replacement for the Pole, will no doubt have a huge part to play in the upcoming campaign.

Second retreat


The task for head coach Jürgen Klopp to construct a cohesive attacking unit from a Colombian, an Italian and a South Korean is a daunting one, but former Deportivo Cali marksman Ramos will have plenty of time to get to know his fellow strikers, and the rest of the squad, over the course of the coming days.

On Sunday the team travelled to Essen for a pre-season friendly, before the five-time Bundesliga champions head to Bad Ragaz in Switzerland for the second of two pre-season training camps this summer, with centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos also set to rejoin the fold following his World Cup involvement with Greece.

Dortmund’s first competitive outing is the DFL Supercup against defending league and cup champions Bayern, before die Schwarz-Gelbenkick off their league campaign at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Saturday 22 August.

Check out Adrian Ramos' Top 5 Bundesliga goals courtesy of the Bundesliga's official YouTube channel: