For the first time since his testicular cancer diagnosis, Sébastien Haller is back with his teammates from Borussia Dortmund. The 28-year-old is returning to the training ground to prepare for the second half of the Bundesliga season. He should also travel to the training camp.
For the seriously ill Sébastien Haller, the long road back to normality has begun. After two surgeries and chemotherapy, the 28-year-old attacker returned to his teammates for the first time since he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. At the start of preparations for the second part of the season in the Bundesliga, he completed parts of the mandatory performance diagnostics on Monday. At 5 p.m., Haller drove alone to the BVB training ground in his car – accompanied by a flurry of flashbulbs from numerous cameras.
BVB later published a short statement from Haller to the fans via social media. “Hello guys, I’m finally back,” the striker introduced the 14-second clip. “It wasn’t that easy, but with your support it went better and was easier to do.” He is now looking ahead and looking forward to seeing the fans back in the stadium “for some wins”.
Dortmund’s record purchase, committed by Ajax Amsterdam last summer for over 30 million euros and intended as a replacement for Torgarant Erling Haaland, had to undergo a second operation in November. According to current plans, Haller will travel to Marbella next Friday for the one-week training camp for sixth-place Bundesliga players. “He feels a great desire to finally be back with us and to be able to train. We are really looking forward to him and to him,” sports director Sebastian Kehl recently told the “Ruhr Nachrichten”.
On the basis of the data determined during the medical test, careful training should take place – without pressure from the top of the club. Kehl told the “WAZ” that the next few days would be looked at. “There is a positive trend with him.”
For the other BVB pros, too, the new year began with the determination of fitness values. According to reports, Marco Reus seems to have overcome his ankle injury and is available again after a forced break of months. There are similarly positive forecasts for convalescents such as Mahmoud Dahoud, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (both shoulder surgery), Anthony Modeste (groin surgery) and Marius Wolf (balance disorders), who coached Edin Terzic seven weeks after the inglorious end of the year in Mönchengladbach (2nd :4) and welcomed the crash in sixth place.
“The squad should be relatively full when we fly to Marbella,” said Kehl. “The fact that many players are coming back that we missed a lot will increase the competition. That makes us optimistic.”
On Wednesday, the first complete unit should take place on the lawn. The finishing touches for the Bundesliga restart on January 22nd against FC Augsburg will take place in Marbella. Tests against Fortuna Düsseldorf (January 10) and FC Basel (January 13) will take place there.
