Borussia Dortmund signs Swiss goalkeeper Gregory Kobel from Stuttgart

By Associated Press

DORTMUND: Borussia Dortmund signed Swiss goalkeeper Gregory Kobel from Bundesliga rival Stuttgart on Monday.

The 23-year-old Kobel signed a deal through June 2026, Dortmund said in a statement.

Kobel will be expected to become Dortmund’s No. 1 ahead of Marwin Hitz, who last season beat out Roman Burki for the starting job. The 30-year-old Bürki is expected to depart the club.

“We’re delighted that Gregor Kobel has decided to join Borussia Dortmund,” sporting director Michael Zorc said. “We believe he has great potential. Gregor’s singlemindedness, his ambition and his consistency are remarkable. His goalkeeping profile is a good fit for us.”

The 1.95-meter (6ft 4in) tall Kobel produced several outstanding performances to help promoted Stuttgart finish ninth in the Bundesliga last season. He played in all but one of the team’s league games.

“You can see on the pitch that I’m an emotional guy. Being out on the pitch in front of more than 80,000 fans after the pandemic, in that atmosphere – I’m already looking forward to it now!” pic.twitter.com/F2XYTBY04B

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) May 31, 2021

“(Kobel) showed himself to be a communicative and vociferous leader who consistently performs well on his goal-line, in the penalty area and with the ball at his feet,” Dortmund said.

Kobel switched to Hoffenheim from the youth setup of Grasshopper Club Zürich in 2013. He was loaned out to Augsburg in January 2019 then Stuttgart in July. Stuttgart made his loan deal permanent for a reported 4 million euros ($5 million) last year. Dortmund is reportedly paying 15 million ($18.3 million) for him.

“You can see on the pitch that I’m an emotional guy. Being out on the pitch in front of more than 80,000 fans after the pandemic, in that atmosphere — I’m already looking forward to it now,” Kobel was quoted as saying.