Official | Former Hertha and Borussia Dortmund keeper Marcel Lotka switches to Düsseldorf | OneFootball

Former Borussia Dortmund keeper Marcel Lotka’s move to Fortuna Düsseldorf was quickly confirmed on Wednesday. The 24-year-old joins his new 2. Bundesliga outfit on a free transfer after Dortmund opted not to extend his expiring contract. Lotka ended up never making any BVB senior team appearances after his controversial switch from Hertha in the summer of 2022.

Lotka found himself at the center of a legal controversy near the end of the 2021/22 campaign. The Duisburg-native unexpectedly found himself elevated to a starting role at Hertha in late February by then Hertha head coach Tayfun Korkut. Just three days after making his Bundesliga debut, Lotka opted to sign on with Dortmund for the next season on March 1st, 2022.

Lotka presumably had the right to join Dortmund on free after the season due to the fact that his contract was due to expire. Hertha, however, opted to take advantage of a special clause in their academy player’s contract that enabled them to automatically extend his contract provided they pulled the clause prior to April 30th, 2022.

Lotka remained the Hertha number one under both Korkut and later installed head coach Felix Magath. He started the final ten fixtures of the campaign between matchdays 24 and 34 before Magath turned to Danish keeper Oliver Christensen in the promotion-relegation playoffs against Hamburger SV.

The Berlin-based club managed to avoid relegation that year, and Hertha – after threatening legal action – allowed Lotka to move to Dortmund on May 30th, 2022. Lotka was gifted the opportunity to train with Edin Terzic’s first team in 2022/23. He occasionally made the matchday squad, but was never used.

Over the past three years, Lotka made 84 appearances for BVB II in the 3. Liga. Lotka (24) will compete with captain Florian Kastenmeier and deputy Florian Schock for playing time at F95.

“After three years in Dortmund, it felt like the right time to start a new chapter in my career,” Lotka noted in a Düsseldorf-released statement. “The talks with the club officials and the prospects in Düsseldorf convinced me completely.”

“Our goal was to strengthen the competition for the position between the posts with another strong goalkeeper,” Fortuna’s Director of Sport and Communication, Klaus Allofs added. “Marcel Lotka meets our criteria. He is a goalkeeper with ambition, but also an absolute team player who fits perfectly into our goalkeeping team both in terms of character and athleticism.”

GGFN | Peter Weis