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Borussia Mönchengladbach have officially confirmed Nathan Ngoumou’s departure after four years at Borussia-Park. The 26-year-old winger has joined OGC Nice, returning to his native France in search of the playing time that has eluded him since an Achilles tendon rupture in April 2025. No fixed transfer fee is reportedly due. Gladbach can nevertheless receive up to €500,000 in bonuses and have secured a ten-percent sell-on clause. For a player once signed from Toulouse for approximately €8m, the financial return is modest.
Nathan Ngoumou’s mixed Bundesliga record
Ngoumou arrived in August 2022 as an athletic project with obvious Bundesliga tools. His pace was the headline quality from the beginning, but his first season under Daniel Farke became a lesson in how difficult it can be to translate speed into a stable role. Ngoumou was asked to track runners in deeper defensive structures, deputised centrally for Marcus Thuram and moved between attacking positions without ever establishing one as his own.
There were flashes. By the spring of 2023, Ngoumou had begun producing more convincing performances. The arrival of Gerardo Seoane then offered something close to a reset. The 2023/24 campaign probably remains the clearest picture of what Gladbach thought Ngoumou could become. He scored an excellent solo goal in the chaotic 4-4 opening-day draw with Augsburg, combined effectively with fellow Frenchman Franck Honorat and proved capable of operating from either flank.
At his best, Ngoumou could turn broken play into immediate transition danger. His acceleration offered something few other Gladbach attackers could replicate. The winger was eventually clocked at 36.53 km/h, a figure that later placed him among the fastest players ever recorded in the Bundesliga. Continuity nevertheless posed a problem.
Seoane moved Ngoumou between left wing, right wing and other attacking roles. Injuries and selection changes repeatedly altered the combinations around him. The raw qualities remained visible, but the player never stayed in one tactical lane long enough to make the position fully his own. Even during productive stretches, Ngoumou often felt like a useful possibility rather than an indispensable starter.
By late 2024, the competition had hardened. Robin Hack and Honorat sat ahead of him in the attacking hierarchy and a winter departure began to look realistic. Then came another twist. Ngoumou responded. When injuries opened minutes early in 2025, he forced his way back into relevance.
Get German Football News noted in February that Gladbach were coping with several important absences partly because Ngoumou and other squad players had stepped forward with quality performances. Seoane even experimented with Ngoumou centrally again, employing him among several options in the No. 10 role.
At roughly the same time, his international career finally moved forward. A former France youth international, Ngoumou switched allegiance to Cameroon and made two senior appearances in World Cup qualifying. Then came April 6, 2025. Ngoumou suffered an Achilles tendon rupture following Gladbach’s 1-1 draw away at St. Pauli. GGFN reported shortly afterwards that the injury would rule him out for the remainder of the season.
As it turned out, the consequences extended far beyond the final weeks of one campaign. Ngoumou never played another competitive match for Borussia.
The entire 2025/26 season disappeared into rehabilitation and fitness work. By December, GGFN’s Gladbach transfer primer could simultaneously frame him as a player potentially due another opportunity upon his return and one whose place in the club’s long-term plans had become increasingly difficult to justify.
By this summer, Ngoumou was again among the players Gladbach were prepared to ship out. Nice now offer something Borussia no longer could: minutes and an opportunity to begin again. Ngoumou leaves Gladbach having made 78 competitive appearances, scored nine goals and registered five assists.
Gladbach statement on Ngoumou’s departure
“Nathan is coming back from a long-term injury and needs time and playing minutes in order to return to his previous performance level,” Gladbach sporting director Rouven Schröder noted in the club statement. “Those are things we cannot offer him due to the competitive situation. Combined with his contract situation through 2027, the solution we have now found is the best one for all parties.”
