Why Borussia Dortmund Should Sell Neven Subotic in January

Ever since Jurgen Klopp took charge of Liverpool in October, rumours about him looking to pluck some familiar faces from the Bundesliga for his Reds have been swirling. The one that always seemed to have the most meat to it was about Neven Subotic.

The 27-year-old central defender played under the charismatic German manager for eight of his eight-and-a-half seasons as a professional footballer at FSV Mainz and Borussia Dortmund. He was a regular starter for most—if not all—of those years and has fallen down the pecking order under Klopp's successor at the helm of the Black and Yellows, Thomas Tuchel.

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The latest round of transfer speculation linking the Serbian with a move to Merseyside came days before Christmas after Martin Skrtel's injury proved to be another lengthy one for Klopp to cope with. The Mirror's David Maddock wrote: "That injury crisis will force the German into the transfer market, with his former Dortmund defender Neven Subotic a target—though Klopp accepts it may be difficult to prise the experienced central defender from the Bundesliga."

We gave our verdict on the likelihood of Subotic leaving the club earlier in December, while Sport360's Ross Dunbar wrote on the matter on Christmas Eve, rating the likelihood at 8/10.

That article, however, isn't as much about whether Subotic will move away from Dortmund in the January window—to Liverpool or elsewhere—but whether the Ruhr side should sell the fan favourite.

For starters, the 27-year-old is not a big part of Tuchel's plans at Dortmund. He's only played in four of his side's 30 matches across all competitions in the first half of the season, and two of those four appearances came in the UEFA Europa League in which Dortmund rested key players.

He missed 10 games with a back injury earlier in the Hinrunde, as the first half of the season is called in Germany, but he has been fully fit since mid-October, being unavailable for only one more match, his side's final game of 2015 at Cologne, with a gastric flu, per Ruhr Nachrichten's Matthias Dersch.

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Even when Subotic was healthy, he struggled to make the 18-man squad throughout the Hinrunde; he was part of the matchday squad just 12 times.

He's definitely fallen down the pecking order in the heart of Dortmund's defence. It was somewhat surprising to see him get the starting nod in the 2-1 victory over VfL Wolfsburg in early December when both Mats Hummels and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Tuchel's preferred pairing in central defence, were unavailable through illness.

Sven Bender has been a revelation at centre-half in the Hinrunde—to the point where one could argue he should be considered for a regular starting role at that position in 2016. Subotic is only the fourth option going into the new year. 

While depth is even important at a position with which coaches generally don't like to tinker—especially considering Dortmund's busy schedule with Europa League, Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal commitments—one could argue having a player of Subotic's caliber as the second back-up option is an unnecessary luxury.

It's not like BVB would absolutely have to sign a replacement for the Serbian.

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Sven Bender could move to central defence permanently once Nuri Sahin is fully fit, as the Turkey international would be a more natural back-up or competitor for Julian Weigl in defensive midfield than the 26-year-old anyway. Matthias Ginter could move inside from right-back if need be, as versatile full-back Erik Durm should be at full strength after the winter break.

Considering Dortmund would be able to demand a substantial fee for Subotic—since they're not actively shopping him—selling the long-serving defender would be the logical thing to do.

While seeing one of their favourites go would be tough for the supporters, most would agree Subotic should get the chance to play. That chance isn't likely to come at Dortmund for the foreseeable future.

At 27 years of age, Subotic should be at the peak of his career. Struggling to make the bench for Dortmund is not the way he should be spending that time in his life.

Lars Pollmann is a featured columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for Yellowwallpod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.