Borussia Dortmund confirms signings of Florian Thauvin and Alphonse Areola
Brian Laudrup has moved very quickly in the summer market and has already signed his first two players, both young Frenchmen and ready to break into the first team.
Brian Laudrup and his staff seemed determined to improve on last season's performance as his Borussia Dortmund side have already brought in two new signings. First coming in the French duo is goalkeeper Alphonse Areola (left) for €2M from Paris St.-Germain, followed closely by left winger Florian Thauvin (right) in a €15M from Olympique de Marseille.
With Roman Weidenfeller now 34 years of age, it is time for der BVB to finally start looking for long-term replacements for the fourteen-year Dortmund veteran. With Australian Mitch Langerak nowhere near good enough to take up the mantle, it seems the 22 year old Alphonse Areola is the chosen successor.
The shot-stopper spent the last season on loan at mid-table Ligue 1 side SC Bastia, where he played in 30 matches and kept 7 clean sheets. Areola showed his quick reflexes and one-on-one prowess on multiple occasions, including keeping clean sheets against Marseille, Lyon, and LOSC Lille. He has now signed a €15k per week contract through 2019 at Signal Iduna Park and will likely play backup to Weidenfeller for this season before stepping into the number one role.
The second man to make the trek from France into Germany is Florian Thauvin. Just 22 years old, Thauvin has already been making splashes in Ligue 1 with his scintillating performances for Olympique de Marseille. Despite only scoring 3 goals and assisting 5 in last season's competition, Thauvin was always a threat on the left side with his direct dribbling abilities.
Having signed a €31,500 per week contract through 2019, many people are wondering how much of an impact the new man will actually have. Behind superstar Marco Reus in the pecking order, the young starlet will have to make quite an impression to win some starts. Some pundits are speculating, however, that Marco Reus could make the move into the center of the park, or even play as a striker after relatively disappointing seasons from both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ciro Immobile.
"I'm delighted to have gotten these players in so quickly," Laudrup told the press at the dual-unveiling. "I promise you all one thing, though...we are not done here. More faces are coming in, and some are heading out. To create a world-class team, we need to make some changes, and those changes are happening now."
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To be fair, I think it was closer to 490; these last two updates have technically been a part of season two.
