Borussia Dortmund have confirmed the departure of Dzenis Burnic. The midfielder, who spent last season on loan at Dynamo Dresden, has signed a three-year contract with 1.FC Heidenheim for an undisclosed fee. Burnic becomes the second player to leave Dortmund this summer after Mario Gotze, with a few more expected to follow, in the coming weeks.
Dzenis Burnic’s story at Borussia Dortmund
Burnic came out of the Borussia Dortmund academy back in 2016, as a promising young talent, who was ready to make a mark in professional football. Along with fellow youth teammate, Felix Passlack, the midfielder was among the most highly-rated youngsters in German football at that time and was subsequently given a promotion to the senior side.
However, the defensive midfielder never really managed to make an impression as he made only two senior appearances during his year spell at Signal Iduna Park. Burnic’s loan move to Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart in 2018 sounded promising. But unfortunately, the youngster struggled with a lack of game-time and his progress was marred by a knee injury.
At Dynamo, however, Burnic established himself as a key component in midfield. But injuries during the final phase of the campaign kept him out of action for the entirety of June.
Burnic joins Heidenheim: Good riddance for BVB?
Burnic’s transfer to Heidenheim makes sense for all parties involved. For the player, he will finally get some much-needed first-team opportunities for a club who were close to sealing promotion to the Bundesliga this summer and should come out strong next season.
As for Borussia Dortmund, the youngster was barely the first-team option in a midfield unit, chock-full of talented individuals. It was, in fact, boosted by the summer arrival of English whizkid Jude Bellingham, meaning the Black and Yellows might even have to offload at least one more midfielder to gain a semblance of balance.
Either way, Burnic was always going to find himself trailing Bellingham, Mahmoud Dahoud, Thomas Delaney, Emre Can and Axel Witsel in the pecking order. His departure, therefore, is indeed good riddance for Lucien Favre as he looks to reshape the squad after yet again missing out on the Bundesliga title this past season.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see whether Burnic’s former U-19 teammate, Passlack faces the same fate. The young right-back has returned from his loan spell at Fortuna Sittard but also faces an uncertain future at the club.
