Following departure of Sorting Director, Sebastian Kehl, it was clear the Dortmund higher-ups were looking for the club to begin moving in a different direction. For almost four years, the club was led by Kehl, with notable accomplishments being UCL runners up (23/24), signings of Nico Schlotterbeck, Adeyemi, Nmecha and Guirassy, as well as Bundesliga runners-up in the heartbreaking 22/23 Bundesliga campaign. Kehl’s squad planning drifted away from his predecessor (Michael Zorc) as Kehl mainly focused
on signing experienced and established players such as Sabitzer, Füllkrug, and Anton. This significantly contrasted Zorc’s approach who notably went to a youth-centric transfer approach signing the likes of Lewandowski, Haaland, Jude, Demebele, and establishing the unique culture in Dortmund that most people have known to love.
With the appointment of Ole Book from SV Elversberg, Book has a reputation for an elite scouting eye, priority on youth development and instant impact on success. Book worked in upper management (including Sporting Director) with SV Elversberg for over 7 years. Within those 7 years, he helped bring SV Elversberg from 4th division football to the German 2nd division and eventual promotion two months after he left. With him signing with Die Schwarzgelben until 2029, it’s clear that Dortmund’s management want to make a return to a youth focused club with an emphasis on talent development as well as a return to domestic and European success.
The Departures
The biggest departures from Dortmund were Karim Adeyemi and Julian Brandt. Both were veterans of the black and yellow. Brandt having played seven seasons in the Westfalenstadion and Karim played four. The exit of Karim felt inevitable. The player struggled to find form at times, rumours of a big move circled him every window and inconsistent game time, most fans knew Adeyemi was bound to leave at some point. The Culers came knocking this summer and Adeyemi left for around €22m with a potential €7m in add-ons. Considering the 24-year-old was bought for around €30m back in 2022, this doesn’t seem like the best bit of business on Dortmund’s part. Unfortunately, Brandt’s transfer was even worse from a fiscal perspective. Many fans considered Julian Brandt to be the heir-apparent to Marco Reus as the team’s leading figure. He never quite hit those heights, however. Across seven seasons, Brandt showed brilliant flashes by seemingly orchestrating the attacking by himself and creating crucial goals. He could also disappear in critical matches or for months at a time. He has now left for Ajax on a free transfer, which again seems like a loss on Dortmund’s part considering they brought him in for €25m in 2019.
Other exits include the retiring of Niklas Süle, the free transfer of Özcan, and the loan of Couto to Como. All these players had parts to play in the first team over the years, but none of them seemed to have played a crucial part. Couto still has the potential to develop into a strong attacking wing-back and getting minutes under the exciting Como side could unlock Couto’s full potential and pay dividends for BVB in the future.
Young talents like Duranville, Campbell and Wätjen also left this summer as they look for first team football. Duranville now is fighting for a starting spot in Olympique Lyon, Wätjen is playing in Denmark for FC Midtjylland and Campbell is playing for Book’s former employer: SV Elversberg. In total the 3 of them collected around €12.5m, with Cole also having a buyback clause and each of the three suspected to have relatively high sell on clauses.
New Arrivals
Dortmund saw an influx of players join the team across the summer. Before the window even opened, Justin Lerma and Kauã Prates joined from South American teams. Both 18-year-olds are considered to be ‘wonderkids’ and are clear prospects for first team football. They are not quite ready for regular football in the Bundesliga, however, and will pick up minutes as the team rotates. Lerma is an attacking midfielder out of Ecuador who excels at clever link up play and finding pockets of space. Due to BVB’s many options at the attacking midfielder positions, it’s unlikely Lerma will receive much play time and is looking to be a long term project in Dortmund. However, Lerma was promoted to the first team at Independiente del Valle when he was only 15 and was a crucial aspect to their attack. He has a track record of exceeding expectations and is an exciting player. Prates on the other hand is a physical strong – Brazilian left back who has a knack for tackling and is very versatile. Over the last few seasons, Dortmund’s left flank was almost unanimously held by Daniel Svensson, with a few appearances from Beier from time to time. Nobody would be surprised if Prates became a regular alternative for Svensson, making multiple appearances as a substitute at left wing-back immediately.
Following Sulë’s departure, availability troubles with Nico Schlotterbeck and some injury problems for Kovač‘s back three during his 25/26 campaign; it was evident the club needed to bring in defensive reinforcements. Injuries last season prompted the rapid promotion of Filippo Mane and Luca Reggiani. Both gave solid performances throughout last season, but it’s clear the Dortmund management wanted more depth in the center-back role. Thus, they signed 19-year-old, French defender Joane Gadou from Red Bull Salzburg. Gadou is a whopping 1.95m tall, naturally good in the air, strong in the challenge, and is future leader (already captaining a U17 France squad). With Bensebaini, Can, Schlotterbeck, Anton, Reggiani and Mane; it’s unclear how Kovač plans to use the Frenchmen when the squad is fully fit but he has started every game this season so far.
It’s clear Kovač is likely sticking to his signature 3-4-3 formation this season. Deciding to play with only two true central midfielders means you’re going to need versatile players with high “durability”. Dortmund entered the summer wit three central midfielders: Nmecha, Jobe and Sabitzer. Sabitzer is approaching the end of playing career, Nmecha came off an injury from the past World Cup and is being heavily linked around Europe in the near future, and Jobe is still developing. Book has elected to bring in Joey Veerman from PSV. The Dutch veteran is known to have impeccable vision, technical ability and is renowned for his creativity – he lead the Eredivisie in assists last season.. This sort of signing, indicates Dortmund are experience and creativity to the middle of the park it potentially shows that BVB are preparing for the departures of Nmecha and/or Sabitzer.
The two most significant signings of the summer window for the black and yellows is Konstantinos Karetsas and Giannis Konstantelias. The Greek duo are both attacking midfielders that Book and Kovač seemingly plan to use in the starting eleven as soon as possible. Both possess incredible ball control, technical ability, keen eye for passes in the attacking third and an eye for goal. Fans have already proclaimed them to be cornerstones of the club that will usher in a new era at Signal Iduna Park. With the departures of Brandt and Adeyemi, Karetsas and Konstantelias were supposed to fill those roles, despite Kovač’s side being stocked on attacking midfielders. Given the importance of attacking midfielders in Kovač‘s system, it’s evident that he was looking to bring in more options to give him as many choices as possible depending on the occasion. With the likes of Inacio, Lerma, Chukwuemeka, Albert and potentially even Silva, Beier, Veerman and Sabitzer; the signing of the Greek duo may be indicative of Dortmund expecting possible departures in this department in the future and are looking make the attacking midfielder role competitive within the training ground, ensuring no player gets complacent.
Just as the dust started to settle on Dortmund’s transfer window, disaster struck. In the first matchday against Hamburg, after having a phenomenal Bundesliga debut – Konstantelias tore his ACL, indefinitely sidelining him for 5 to 6 months. This was devastating for Book’s side as Konstantelias was making an immediate impact in front of the Yellow Wall, having scored, put in a great deal of effort on both sides of the ball, made countless crucial passes and seemingly commanding the entire Dortmund attack. Instead of Borussia Dortmund calling upon one of their many options to fill the 23 year old’s position, they signed 19-year-old Ethan Nwaneri from Arsenal on a 1 season loan. This decision came only hours after Konstantelias underwent surgery. Book means business and has prepared a contigency for everything. Nwaneri is still very young but many speak of him as the future of Arsenal’s attack. The Englishman has a wicked left foot, great dribbling and blindside defenses with his link up play. Nwaneri spent last season on loan at Marseille, played a few games for Arsenal in their preseason (notably scoring against his now teammates in a 3-2 win for the BVB). Clearly, this is a short term fix for Konstantelias’ injury as Dortmund did not include any buy option in the contract and matched the contracts duration to Konstantelias’ return timeline. Karetsas went down with circulatory issues in Dortmund’s opening UCL match and we are still waiting on reports about his health.
Book’s First Window
Dortmund seemingly have spent around €108m while collecting an estimated €38m from player sales. Obviously this means BVB didn’t make a profit, losing €70m in total. Nevertheless, they got rid of some big players that were taking a significant chunk of their wage budget and distributed it across 7 new signings. While this window was chaotic for Book, it’s natural a few signings and departures fell through. Notably, Guirassy was rumoured to have interest across Europe and Saudi Arabia with Hoffenheim’s Asllani and Newcastle’s Woltemade being named as potential replacements. Nmecha garnered a lot of interest, especially after his fantastic World Cup performances, with the likes of Newcastle even presenting a swap deal, rumoured to include the aforementioned Woltemade. Köln’s wonderkid: Said El Mala was apparently on the top of Book’s and Kovač‘s wishlist as Dortmuned offered a record breaking €50m for the young German winger. This would have been Dortmund’s most expensive signing ever, topping the €35m spent for Ousmane Dembele in the 16/17 campaign. Ultimately, Köln reportedly declined and Dortmund pulled out to pursue Konstantelias and Veerman instead. Silva and Reggiani were linked to potential departures as they are reportedly unclear of a path to first team football but no transfers ever materialized.
All in all, Book’s first transfer window as sporting director proved to be exciting and a return to the Dortmund-esque youth-centric approach. It’s evident Borussia Dortmund are returning to a “buy low, sell high” strategy again while still looking to bring home titles in the near and distant future. Book demonstrated he’s willing to let fan favourite and superstar players go if things aren’t quite working out and even more willing to spend big and take a chance on players who may not be household names (yet). The only questions that remain are; how will Dortmund manage a squad with so much depth and will this be enough to push BVB into the promise land?
Your Thoughts
What are your thoughts on Book’s first window?
