Ginter: 'I'm a right-back now'
One of the standout individual success stories of the season so far, Matthias Ginter’s transformation from bench-warming central defender to irreplaceable right-back has been nothing short of exceptional.
If the 21-year-old’s first season at Borussia Dortmund did not go quite according to plan, the start of his second is exceeding all expectation.
Childhood dream
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Reality check
The euphoria, however, was not to last. Unable to dislodge the old guard - Mats Hummels, Sokratis, Neven Subotic, Ilkay Gündogan, Lars Bender, Nuri Sahin and Sebastian Kehl - the multi-talented Ginter found himself playing in the reserves.
Transfer speculation linking him with a move to any one of a number of Dortmund’s rivals was inevitable, but the exit door did not once factor into the then Germany Under-21 international’s thinking: "I’m sticking around, I’ll keep working hard."
Persistence pays off
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International class
Unsurprisingly, Ginter’s personal revival has not gone unnoticed by Germany head coach Joachim Löw. He has started Die Mannschaft’s last three outings at right-back, seemingly providing the much-needed solution to the post-Philipp Lahm puzzle.
"I’m a right-back now, and that’s how it’s going to stay for now at least," Ginter said recently, his days of kicking about with the Dortmund Under-23s a distant memory.
Dennis-Julian Gottschlich/ Christopher Mayer-Lodge