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| Thomas Meunier of Borussia Dortmund during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and 1. FC Koln at the Signal Iduna Park on March 18, 2023 in Dortmund, German. |
After some short negotiations, it seems Thomas Meunier has agreed a move back to his home country with Club Brugge. The Belgian fullback is lining up a 3-year contract with Brugge, which would end a three year stay at BVB.
Meunier made the move from PSG to BVB in 2020 on a free transfer, replacing the outbound Achraf Hakimi, who would go on to take up the Meunier’s role at PSG a year later.
Despite his pedigree and consistent success as the international level, Meunier failed to impress in black and yellow. The latest failure in a string of attempts to replace Lukasz Piszczek, Meunier was not able to stamp his authority on the starting eleven due to poor form, injuries, and a lack of cohesion with the team.
It could be argued that Meunier got a tough run at BVB. The 2020-2023 period saw a lot of change. Meunier reported to three different managers, played alongside several center-backs, and was pushed to adapt to a variety of systems during his time at BVB. Still, BVB opted for a veteran right-back in the hopes of a ready-made, stable squad piece that could immediately plug a gap; Meunier by-and-large failed to deliver.
With a reported fee in the single-digit millions, Meunier’s sale will not bring the dollars rolling in, but will still contribute to funding his replacement.
BVB needs to move quickly in the market to get this sale completed and scout out a new option as their first choice, Ivan Fresneda, seems to have lost interest in a switch to the Bundesliga. Right-backs are in notoriously short supply, and BVB need a quality option to rotate in with Julian Ryerson and Marius Wolf.