Mats Julian Hummels

Mats Julian Hummels, known as simply Mats Hummels, is a German professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Bavarian giants Bayern Munich and the German national team.

Born on December 16, 1988, the player would go on to train with Bayern as a teenager. Between 1995 and 2006, Hummels would play for 11 years across youth teams of different age groups with the club.

The player would be promoted to the reserve team in 2006. In his one-and-a-half seasons with the second team at Bayern, Hummels would make 42 appearances for the side while scoring a total of five goals. He would earn his first team debut for Bayern in the final match of the regular season on May 19, 2007 as Bayern beat FSV Mainz 5-2.

However, Hummels did not figure in the first team for Bayern the following season and was shipped out on loan to Borussia Dortmund in January 2008. Hummels had established himself as a starter for Borussia Dortmund alongside Neven Subotic, who was also finding his feet at the club.

The player impressed manager Jurgen Klopp and Borussia chiefs so much during his year-long stay at the club on loan that they chose to make the move permanent at the expiry of his loan deal. Dortmund reportedly paid Bayern a sum of 4 million Euros for his signature.

The 2010-11 season in German football brought success for Dortmund and Hummels. The latter remained regular first-choice centre-back alongside Subotic and the duo helped Dortmund keep the best defensive record in the Bundesliga as Dortmund won the league title.

During that eventful season, Hummels gained a reputation as a ball-playing centre-halve who could play out from the back with ease. He also displayed good prowess over tackling and positioning while keeping his composure at the back and maintaining a very good pass-completion percentage. The defender was considered to be among the best defenders in Europe thanks to his displays for Dortmund that season.

Hummels would again play an important role for Dortmund the following season as Dortmund completed a league and cup double. Dortmund set a Bundesliga record for the maximum number of points when they scored 81 points on their way to the 2011-12 Bundesliga title. That season, Dortmund met Bayern in the German Cup final. Hummels scored one of the goals for his team as Borussia decimated Bayern 5-2 in the final.

The following season would see Hummels take the captain’s armband for Dortmund as they reached the final of the UEFA Champions League. However, the side were beaten by Bayern at the Wembley stadium in London. Dortmund went a step back in the following season as they missed out on Champions League qualification, prompting Klopp to resign.