22-year-old Ilkay Gündogan has been groomed to fill the large hole that Sahin left in Dortmund back in 2011, and who has bloomed this season into one of Dortmund's most important players.

Now Nuri Sahin, aged 24, has returned to Dortmund following his odyssey around Europe, having failed to nail a starting place at Real Madrid or Liverpool.

Gündogan is likely to be his most direct competitor in the coming weeks.