Borussia Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha withdraws from international duty due to injury

Following the start of the international break, Borussia Dortmund and Germany midfielder Felix Nmecha joined the German National team after Dortmund’s 2-1 loss to Stuttgart. Shortly thereafter, the midfielder withdrew from the international team due to a hip/ thigh issue.

The injury will keep the player out for the game against Austria, which has prompted Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann to call up Hoffenheim’s Grischa Prömel instead. This will be a frustrating stumbling block for Nmecha, who was starting to find his form for Dortmund over the course of the last few games.

In some sense, the injury itself is rather bizarre considering the fact that the player was able to feature in Dortmund’s game against Stuttgart. His performance, like the rest of the team’s, seemed dulled mainly due to fatigue from having to play against Newcastle midweek.

The hope will be that Nmecha’s layoff will be a temporary one as Dortmund are set for quite a few tough matches domestically and abroad once the international break comes to a close. Borussia Mönchengladbach, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen await them in the Bundesliga, while AC Milan and PSG remain on their itinerary for the Champions League.

Dortmund’s game with Stuttgart remains a warning for how tired this side can look without rotation, and also gives them a taste of what Stuttgart is capable of ahead of their meeting in the DFB Pokal. Having a stunted number of midfielders will not be a good sign for the club as they head into this period. Nmecha’s injury may also be a sign for head coach Edin Terzić that without proper rotation he may begin to lose more players to over-exertion or injury, which could leave the squad even more thin in the lead-up to these match defining fixtures to come.