Tom Rothe knows the stadium An der Alten Försterei from a warm-up match last summer. At the time, the 19-year-old won the test match with Holstein Kiel against 1. FC Union Berlin and made a big impression on the spectators. A year ago, of course, it was not yet foreseeable that the loan player from Borussia Dortmund would play such a furious season with the storks, at the end of which they achieved promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time.
After the end of the season, Rothe returned to his home club Borussia Dortmund, completed the pre-season training there and is now moving to Köpenick for four million euros. He travelled to Berlin on Tuesday, arrived on time for his medical check and is expected to be officially presented on Wednesday as the fifth signing of the summer.
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Rothe contributed four goals and ten assists to Kiel’s promotion, and impressed with his dynamic style of play on the left of the five-man defense. The Rendsburg native moved from FC St. Pauli’s youth department to BVB three years ago, got his first taste of Bundesliga football with the pros and caused a stir when he scored his first goal on his debut against VfL Wolfsburg. The following year he played mainly for the U23s in the 3rd division, then decided to go on loan to Schleswig-Holstein, which gave him a huge boost.
Tom Rothe is competing with Robin Gosens
Interesting: Because Rothe Kiel is no longer available for the new season, the promoted team signed Tymoteusz Puchacz from the Irons just last week. The place that the Pole vacated in the squad has now been taken by the German U20 international. As of now, he is competing with Robin Gosens for a place in the starting eleven, although the latter wants to leave the club. Jérome Roussillon will be busy with his rehabilitation for a while and will not be considered for the competitive opening match in a week and a half in the DFB Cup against regional league side Greifswalder FC.
“I often found it difficult to be stable at the back, to be able to hold my own in one-on-one duels and to be nasty sometimes. In that respect, the season in the second division helped a lot – and yet there is still a lot of room for improvement in some areas,” Rothe said recently after his return to BVB. He probably only partially means his forward drive: measured in goals and assists, he was the most dangerous defender in the 2nd Bundesliga in 2023/24. This is surprising in his case, above all, because at 1.93 meters he has an impressive height that is not usually found in this position.
