Borussia Dortmund legend Mats Hummels set an ultimatum that the club would either have to fire Edin Terzic or watch him join Marco Reus in leaving the Signal Iduna Park.
Well, as it turns out, Terzic is no longer the manager of Dortmund, yet Hummels will be leaving the club as a free agent this summer, making it the second time in his career he will exit.
However, this time, Hummels isn’t going to Bayern Munich, but he could still end the twilight of his career with a Champions League contender.
Here are three possible destinations for the German footballing icon in the summer 2024 transfer window.
Roma
Roma managed to qualify for European football this season thanks to the improvements made by club legend Daniele De Rossi, who came in as interim manager and restored confidence after Jose Mourinho struggled to keep things together.
There need to be more changes made to upgrade key positions in Rome, with the center back position remaining an important area of need.
Mats Hummels can slot in and start immediately, because as he showed throughout the Champions League knockout stages, the 35-year-old remains one of the best defenders in world football.
Serie A is a friendly league for veteran players, and Roma, in particular, would benefit from Hummels’ ability to read the game without making overly aggressive interventions.
Furthermore, his passing and ball-playing ability will be key. Hummels has been compared to a “quarterback” with how he can sit back and pick out passes, breaking the game wide open from deep. Paulo Dybala would love that.
AC Milan
Elsewhere in Serie A, AC Milan were second in the Italian top flight but still finished a whopping 19 points behind chief rivals Inter Milan, so there is still an awful lot of work for RedBird Capital to do in order to the team back in Scudetto contention.
Milan will have a new manager next season in Lille coach Paulo Fonseca, and RedBird would surely love nothing more than to add a top leader in central defense for free.
Hummels would be a nailed-on starter for Milan next to Fikayo Tomori, one of the best center backs in Serie A, replacing Simon Kjaer as the veteran in the room.
As the world saw in last year’s Champions League, Hummels has more to give than Kjaer and could be a good option to rotate with young center backs like countryman Malick Thiaw.
Milan need a veteran presence who can avoid mistakes and make the rest of the back line stronger. Hummels makes a lot of sense for the Rossoneri on paper, especially if he can help the young guys grow.
Newcastle
Newcastle are already bringing in a starting-caliber free agent center back in the much younger Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth, but since they were interested in Chelsea-bound Tosin Adarabioyo, they could be after a second free agent central defender.
Last season, the Magpies were hit hard by injuries at the heart of their defense, with both Jamaal Lascelles and Sven Botman going down with season-ending injuries late in the campaign.
Newcastle were unable to repeat Champions League qualification, so perhaps, in that respect, Hummels isn’t as useful, but he can still give them an important boost defensively as another veteran option.
There’s not much risk and potentially a lot of reward with signing Hummels, though he will have to continue to prove he can match Premier League attackers physically, since he is crossing the age of 35.
Hummels completed nearly 90 percent of his passes in the Bundesliga last season with 3.4 combined tackles and interceptions per game, so he has the prowess on the ball and the activity in defense to be an asset to Newcastle.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He has been an editor for NFL Spin Zone, Daily DDT for pro wrestling, Autzen Zoo covering the Oregon Ducks, Musket Fire covering the New England Patriots, The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Old Juve covering Juventus, Rush The Kop covering Liverpool, and Release The Knappen covering Schalke. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.