'Neven Subotic - What can Boro expect? '
With much of the summer transfer focus being on the likes of Victor Valdes, Marten de Roon, Bernardo Espinosa, Antonio Barragan and possibly Alvaro Negredo, Middlesbrough boss, Aitor Karanka, has clearly opted to bring in foreign talent, as opposed to British players.
Perhaps the manager feels there is better quality available, at a cheaper price by shopping abroad and this certainly seems to be the case with the latest name being strongly linked to the club, Neven Subotic.
Subotic is a central defender, who has spent the majority of his career playing for Borussia Dortmund, in the German Bundesliga. Born in Bosnia, Subotic moved to Germany with his family, before heading over to America and this is where Subotic started playing for the United States Under 17 team. Having impressed on a tour of Holland, Subotic signed a deal with Mainz, playing 34 times for the first team, before moving to Borussia Dortmund in 2008, along with manager, Jurgen Klopp.
Subotic enjoyed a very successful period at Dortmund, winning the Bundesliga twice, the DFL Super Cup twice and the DFB Pokal once. In 2015, Subotic signed a new deal to keep him at Dortmund until 2017/18 but last season, thrombosis in his arm limited Subotic to just 11 appearances in all competitions and this summer, he confirmed his desire to leave the club.
The Serbian international has played 36 times for the national team but was omitted from the team during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers and has not featured since. It’s rumoured he may have quit international football, which has not been confirmed but would be a bonus for Boro if he has.
Subotic is a player who is very experienced at the highest level, having played for Dortmund in the Champions League final of 2013 and formed a formidable partnership with Mats Hummels in defence. He is a tough tackling defender and the cliché ‘no nonsense’ certainly springs to mind when describing his style of play. Subotic is not one to try and play the ball nicely out of defence, if there is any doubt, expect to see the ball sailing long up field out of play. However, when it comes to defending, Subotic has a great positional sense and attacks the ball aggressively.
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There is little doubt Subotic would be an upgrade on the current options in Boro’s defence, with the only questions marks being his ability on the ball and a poor recent injury record. If Subotic can stay fit, he will be a solid addition to the Boro backline in the Premier League.
