Bundesliga
Hummels: "Dortmund a bigger team than before"
The arrivals of Thorgan Hazard, Julian Brandt and Nico Schulz helped persuade Mats Hummels return to Borussia Dortmund from Bayern Munich in the summer, although he says not too much has changed at the club, including Signal Iduna Park’s famous Yellow Wall.
After a highly decorated three-year spell in Munich, Hummels was back in Dortmund ahead of the new season, returning to the team he won back-to-back Bundesliga trophies with between 2010 and 2012.
He did so having secured three successive titles with BVB’s great rivals Bayern, whom he left for Dortmund in 2008.
Watch: Mats Hummels' career so far
Now rounding off the symmetry of his two-club career, Hummels believes Dortmund are an even bigger club now than they were when he enjoyed such success during his first eight-year stint in Black and Yellow.
“The club just got even bigger, more international and with an even higher reputation,” he told BVB-TV’s Matchday Magazine show. “Looking at the development in the course of the last years, that’s not surprising.”
Indeed, the qualities of Dortmund should come as no surprise to Hummels, who last year helped Bayern pip his new coach Lucien Favre’s side to the title in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season.
And Hummels explains that seeing Dortmund strengthen even further ahead of his own move this summer played a significant role in his decision to move back.
“The most important thing was the really good team that has already been there last year and the other three new players Thorgan Hazard, Nico Schulz and Julian Brandt were already known when I made my decision,” he said.
“So I knew I would come into a highly competitive team for all three competitions that might still need a player like me. Some people or even coaches call me dominant. I like that way of playing and it seemed like it would fit in here.”
Hummels was keenly aware that the world famous Dortmund support would take some convincing before they once again showered him with the kind of support and affection only the 25,000-strong Yellow Wall can provide. But the 30-year-old has quickly re-endeared himself to Dortmund fans with some stellar performances already and he admits that the pull of playing in front of that famous stand week-in, week-out was another telling factor in his desire to re-sign with BVB.
“It was easier than I thought [to adjust back at Dortmund]. I thought it would be harder,” said Hummels. “It felt really good. The team made it easy for me, the people in the stadium and in the city as well. I don’t know if I can say this here but I expected a little headwind but I didn’t really feel that.
“Of course I knew the atmosphere in this stadium, that’s one reason too [that I moved]. I came to that point when I thought it could be something very good again. I already had a great time here, and at first I wasn’t sure if the return would maybe ruin that memory, but it’s also a great challenge to come back. It’s my aim to make that memory even more successful.”